Matrix
Warning! There may be spoilers here. I am going to write this on the assumption that anyone reading has either seen The Matrix Reloaded or doesn't care if they learn anything or are influenced ahead of time.
Well, I went for my second viewing of The Matrix Reloaded today, this time with two different friends, one of whom had amazingly not watched the first one yet. She'd seen bits of it at different times, but not most of it. Having borrowed the video beforehand and then neglected to watch it, she was eager to rush home and see it.
They were actually more engaging to discuss the film with afterward than the other bunch, partly because they both were into that kind of discussion, and partly because there were only three of us. That helped me see more of the possibilities, above and beyond what a second viewing might have added by itself.
The question is no longer "what is the Matrix" so much as it's "what IS going on exactly."
My thought after the first viewing is that the Matrix is a simulation that is in turn contained within a simulation. That is, the "real world" is itself a simulation. There are two other possibilities, which I will list after discussing what made me think the multilayered virtual environments scenario. As I mentioned, shades of The Thirteenth Floor, and shades of eXistenZ. In the former they can plug into a simulation of the twenties, in which the people feel entirely real, and antics ensue. But ultimately the "current day" environment that managed to get so sophisticated it was able to create such a simulation is itself a virtual world. In the latter, the game is so sophisticated it puts you in a virtual world, but the game you are playing is part of the gameplay of another game in which you're immersed.
The kicker is at the end when Neo has "powers" in the real world, where he is able to stop sentinels much the way he'd stop bullets in the Matrix. Granted, it's a little different, as if he generates an EMP, but same result. That smacks of something weird going on, of which a logical possibility is the real world is also virtual.
Other hints could include the gift of a spoon in the real world, as if it's meant as a reminder there is no spoon, even here. Why would it be needed as a reminder about The Matrix? Neo already knows he can do anything there. Indeed, one oddity might be that he doesn't do pretty much anything at will there; there's still some constraint either by or on him.
Then there's the Architect. Within the Matrix he architected. As an avatar? As a master program with, as all of the ones we need care about, representation in human form? I think I overreated to this initially, and his presence is not so illogical, but I still wonder.
Something new is why would Smith be able to "infect" a "person" external to the Matrix and gain influence or raise havoc in the real world? What form does that take in a meat person once disconnected? Like a brainwashing? Is it really possible if both aren't virtual environments?
In any event, that's a possible direction for the films to be taking. Which is no less intriguing, because then we have to wonder what is the real real world like? Is it AI or human controlled? If there are two levels of virtuality, what's the point of it?
Another possibility is that Neo is a real "messiah" and this time The One is more than the Matrix world bargained for. Thus the powers in the real world, as well as the strong ability in the Matrix itself. Shoot, that just made me think of another possibility why we should think it's multi-layered virtual worlds! The bringing back Trinity to life in one affecting the other. (For that matter, Neo, in the first one.) But that could be an argument for supernatural powers too. And that's another thing! The Architect refers to Neo, the One, as an anomaly in code. But ultimately everyone plugged into the Matrix is based on a human mind, not code. So that makes no sense. But I digress.
Anyway, I figure true messiah-ness is one possible direction things could take. Heck, if the spoon hinted that the real world isn't, perhaps the scenes where he is being essentially worshipped are a sign it could go that way. But I doubt it. What do you think?
Another possibility is that somehow whatever weirdness affects Neo in the real world is a result of crosslinked code with Smith, assuming "code" and the flesh and blood brain can affect each other in a real way with no virtual world equivalence required. In that case, Neo, being part Agent now, was able to make the sentinels overload and stop. This same thing in the opposite direction might explain Smith's ease in infecting a human mind back in the real world.
It would also explain why both Neo and the infected dude are in a coma-like state at the end. Which would mean that the ending isn't so arbitrary, abrupt, or odd after all. Which it seemed less so anyway, the second time around.
One of my friends questioned why Neo couldn't simply have killed the Architect (or the avatar as the case may be) on the spot and changed the whole scenario, as opposed to following an either-or choice.
It's significant that there's so much talk of choices, and talk of following the rules. For instance, Smith knew he was supposed to "die" and he chose not to, on the influence of Neo's not staying dead.
I also found myself wondering if there's a deeper symbiotic relationship between men and machines, as that was emphasized along the way. What if the ruined world was not ruined by a war with machines, but that's a cover story. Perhaps the world was ruined and the sky blacked another way, and the way for humans to stay "alive" was to retreat into a virtual world in the care of machines.
The beauty of the Matrix is that 2/3 through the films there are many possible outcomes - assuming there is a penultimate conclusion as such - and potential surprises in store. It could follow a simple line in which the Matrix is what it has been said to be, and the same for the real world. Somehow through cross infection or the supernatural Neo is powerful both places. There's a final battle with the machines and within the Matrix for control. But even so, I think a form of the Matrix would continue for some time as people can't all be released rapidly with no real world infrastructure to go into adequate for so many. We could find out they're all in a computer in the real, real world. It's amazingly cool to contemplate.
I've probably forgotten half what I could have said, and been barely coherent in the process, but I wanted to spew this out for anyone who wants to discuss.
Saturday, May 17, 2003
Sloooooooooooow
I don't know what's going on or if it might be just me, but my blog is loading soooooo slooooooowly today it's ridiculous. It started right after I added a graphic "powered by" link to w.bloggar, so I removed that, but it didn't help and was probably not the cause.
Hope it gets better soon!
I don't know what's going on or if it might be just me, but my blog is loading soooooo slooooooowly today it's ridiculous. It started right after I added a graphic "powered by" link to w.bloggar, so I removed that, but it didn't help and was probably not the cause.
Hope it gets better soon!
Enterprise
I've now seen both of the episodes from this past week. I don't have much to say about them, though I thought it was interesting seeing the flashbacks to the NX tests, I liked Carradine as a potential starship captain, and I wonder to what extent the Klingon fixation on Archer will spark war later. I liked the character who kidnapped Archer. He's cool, and it'd be fun to see him show up again someday. In fact, the episode felt rather "Star Wars" to me; bounty hunting, grittiness and all.
The big thing I found myself thinking is "when will there be more ships like Enterprise out there?" I mean, it's pretty pathetic if Starfleet only has one vessel of that class out there exploring - and defending - after two seasons. Which leads to the scenes from next week, when everything changes due to a threat to Earth that Enterprise has to fight. Perhaps this is the start to formation of the Federation? Or merely the impetus to build up the fleet? Hmmm....
I've now seen both of the episodes from this past week. I don't have much to say about them, though I thought it was interesting seeing the flashbacks to the NX tests, I liked Carradine as a potential starship captain, and I wonder to what extent the Klingon fixation on Archer will spark war later. I liked the character who kidnapped Archer. He's cool, and it'd be fun to see him show up again someday. In fact, the episode felt rather "Star Wars" to me; bounty hunting, grittiness and all.
The big thing I found myself thinking is "when will there be more ships like Enterprise out there?" I mean, it's pretty pathetic if Starfleet only has one vessel of that class out there exploring - and defending - after two seasons. Which leads to the scenes from next week, when everything changes due to a threat to Earth that Enterprise has to fight. Perhaps this is the start to formation of the Federation? Or merely the impetus to build up the fleet? Hmmm....
X2
James P. at Philosophical Blitzkrieg comments about the totally realistic physics of Nightcrawler's teleportation, while the rest of us are content to say "wow, that is so cool!"
Julie also talks about X2, which she enjoyed very much. It's spoilerish if you're one of the few people who haven't seen the movie yet. I e-mailed her what I've been told about Phoenix by X-Men fans. The official link doesn't seem to work properly, so just read Friday May 16th for her thoughts on X2, as well as some trailers. She didn't think much of the CGI used for Hulk, based on the trailer. Since this is not the first time I have heard this opinion, I'm starting to worry.
Julie was shocked someone other than her family was reading her blog, so go there and shock her some more. She has told some wonderful stories about stupid customer tricks in the past, which I believe I meant to link but never did.
James P. at Philosophical Blitzkrieg comments about the totally realistic physics of Nightcrawler's teleportation, while the rest of us are content to say "wow, that is so cool!"
Julie also talks about X2, which she enjoyed very much. It's spoilerish if you're one of the few people who haven't seen the movie yet. I e-mailed her what I've been told about Phoenix by X-Men fans. The official link doesn't seem to work properly, so just read Friday May 16th for her thoughts on X2, as well as some trailers. She didn't think much of the CGI used for Hulk, based on the trailer. Since this is not the first time I have heard this opinion, I'm starting to worry.
Julie was shocked someone other than her family was reading her blog, so go there and shock her some more. She has told some wonderful stories about stupid customer tricks in the past, which I believe I meant to link but never did.
Blog Maintenance Tips for Rogues
Indigoinsights just made me laugh my ass off with this "Rogues Among Us" post. She explored my blog extensively and noticed my "Rogue Blogs That Don't Indicate Recent Updates" list of links that included hers. So I figured I would explain, and provide some useful info.
Rogue Blogs That Don't Indicate Recent Updates are blogs I move off of Blogrolling and directly into my template, which was a way I thought of to make life easier for Blogrolling, since I had sooo many links there. They are the ones I noticed that never showed, ever, a last updated date on the tooltip if you hovered the mouse over the link. They just showed the URL or name.
This as opposed to as many as half the blogs remaining under blogrolling, which indicate a last updated in, say, April, even if they were updated today. This post is also for you guys. I think what may have happened is Blogrolling used to do the ping for us if we used it, but stopped, so it has to be done manually. Or something went wrong, at any rate.
How to show the world your blog was updated
Go to this URL : http://newhome.weblogs.com/pingSiteForm
Enter your site's name, which doesn't seem to affect anything if you vary it.
Enter your site's URL, for instance "http://jaysolo.blogspot.com" in my case.
Click submit. It will then tell you it found you have been updated and changes have been submitted to the XML file that tracks these things.
But wait, there's more...
In the brower address bar you will now see a URL that looks something like this:
http://newhome.weblogs.com/pingSiteForm?name=Jay+Solo%27s+Verbosity&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjaysolo.blogspot.com
That represents a nifty shortcut to directly report that your blog has been updated, without having to enter any information again at the ping form. So add it to your favorites (bookmark it), then add that to your links toolbar if you'd like, as I did in IE. Post, publish, ping. I do that routinely now. I skip the ping sometimes if I am making quick posts back to back.
Then for anyone who uses Blogrolling or otherwise checks for updates and tags their links, your site will be flagged as recently updated, and the correct date/time will be indicated.
Fixing Permalinks on BlogSplat
Another thing that's polite to do is have working permalinks as best you can, even if you use Blogger. I "use Blogger" but I almost never use the web interface for posting. I use w.bloggar instead, which makes it easier to write and format posts fast, save them unfinished for later completion, and even work offline.
I do go to the Blogger web interface to rejigger the archives (and permalinks) periodically. It's been rumored this doesn't work for some people, but I have never had any trouble as long as Blogger was up and running normally.
Go to blogger.com, log in, and select the blog in question.
Click the Archive button
Click the Archive Settings link
Change Archive Frequency to "No Archive" (assuming it is already at Weekly or Monthly)
Click Enter
Change Archive Frequency back to your choice of Weekly or Monthly
Click Enter
Click Republish All, then wait until the popup window goes away.
Sign out. (Or go to whatever Blogger function you want to do now.)
At this point, the permalink for every post previously made will work, in my experience. New posts may or may not work, and old posts may or may not go on the fritz after a while. I think the former is more a problem than the latter, once you have rebuilt/reindexed the archives with the above steps.
Countering Bad Links in Current Posts
If you are linking to a recent post on a BlogSplat site, and links are broken, or you suspect they are broken, you can do something besides say "this cretin is still on Blogger so scroll down... grumble, Movable Type, grumble, real host, grumble grumble." And all you Blogger cretins, this applies if you link back to your own posts as well.
Right-click the permalink and choose Properties from the popup menu, or choose your ownmanner of obtaining the "real" link URL.
In the Properties dialog, with the mouse, highlight the URL, which might be something like:
http://jaysolo.blogspot.com/2003_05_11_jaysolo_archive.html#94486274
Right-click on the highlight URL and select Copy from the menu. In my experience, Ctrl-C doesn't work in this context, even though it does most other places.
Click Cancel to ditch the Properties dialog.
Paste it into the browser address bar, or anywhere editable for that matter (the address bar is good if you want to press Enter and test when you're done, to see if it goes the right place).
Delete everything after the last /, after .com, and the #, after .html and before the bookmark number. That URL will now look like this:
http://jaysolo.blogspot.com/#94486274
Note that this can be used by the person linking to a post, or by the person encountering a non-working link and wanting to get there anyway.
That will be valid as long as the post is on the main page, which tends to be the duration of interest in a link anyhow. I consider this a poor substitute for BlogSplat hosted site owners (or anyone) keeping their permalinks valid as much as possible. Too much onus on the linkers or readers to compensate.
I rebuild the archives for this blog at least once a week. Sometimes I make a post indicating I have done so (which I have seen other people do), and sometimes I don't.
I hope this was all helpful and understandable!
Indigoinsights just made me laugh my ass off with this "Rogues Among Us" post. She explored my blog extensively and noticed my "Rogue Blogs That Don't Indicate Recent Updates" list of links that included hers. So I figured I would explain, and provide some useful info.
Rogue Blogs That Don't Indicate Recent Updates are blogs I move off of Blogrolling and directly into my template, which was a way I thought of to make life easier for Blogrolling, since I had sooo many links there. They are the ones I noticed that never showed, ever, a last updated date on the tooltip if you hovered the mouse over the link. They just showed the URL or name.
This as opposed to as many as half the blogs remaining under blogrolling, which indicate a last updated in, say, April, even if they were updated today. This post is also for you guys. I think what may have happened is Blogrolling used to do the ping for us if we used it, but stopped, so it has to be done manually. Or something went wrong, at any rate.
How to show the world your blog was updated
Go to this URL : http://newhome.weblogs.com/pingSiteForm
Enter your site's name, which doesn't seem to affect anything if you vary it.
Enter your site's URL, for instance "http://jaysolo.blogspot.com" in my case.
Click submit. It will then tell you it found you have been updated and changes have been submitted to the XML file that tracks these things.
But wait, there's more...
In the brower address bar you will now see a URL that looks something like this:
http://newhome.weblogs.com/pingSiteForm?name=Jay+Solo%27s+Verbosity&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjaysolo.blogspot.com
That represents a nifty shortcut to directly report that your blog has been updated, without having to enter any information again at the ping form. So add it to your favorites (bookmark it), then add that to your links toolbar if you'd like, as I did in IE. Post, publish, ping. I do that routinely now. I skip the ping sometimes if I am making quick posts back to back.
Then for anyone who uses Blogrolling or otherwise checks for updates and tags their links, your site will be flagged as recently updated, and the correct date/time will be indicated.
Fixing Permalinks on BlogSplat
Another thing that's polite to do is have working permalinks as best you can, even if you use Blogger. I "use Blogger" but I almost never use the web interface for posting. I use w.bloggar instead, which makes it easier to write and format posts fast, save them unfinished for later completion, and even work offline.
I do go to the Blogger web interface to rejigger the archives (and permalinks) periodically. It's been rumored this doesn't work for some people, but I have never had any trouble as long as Blogger was up and running normally.
Go to blogger.com, log in, and select the blog in question.
Click the Archive button
Click the Archive Settings link
Change Archive Frequency to "No Archive" (assuming it is already at Weekly or Monthly)
Click Enter
Change Archive Frequency back to your choice of Weekly or Monthly
Click Enter
Click Republish All, then wait until the popup window goes away.
Sign out. (Or go to whatever Blogger function you want to do now.)
At this point, the permalink for every post previously made will work, in my experience. New posts may or may not work, and old posts may or may not go on the fritz after a while. I think the former is more a problem than the latter, once you have rebuilt/reindexed the archives with the above steps.
Countering Bad Links in Current Posts
If you are linking to a recent post on a BlogSplat site, and links are broken, or you suspect they are broken, you can do something besides say "this cretin is still on Blogger so scroll down... grumble, Movable Type, grumble, real host, grumble grumble." And all you Blogger cretins, this applies if you link back to your own posts as well.
Right-click the permalink and choose Properties from the popup menu, or choose your ownmanner of obtaining the "real" link URL.
In the Properties dialog, with the mouse, highlight the URL, which might be something like:
http://jaysolo.blogspot.com/2003_05_11_jaysolo_archive.html#94486274
Right-click on the highlight URL and select Copy from the menu. In my experience, Ctrl-C doesn't work in this context, even though it does most other places.
Click Cancel to ditch the Properties dialog.
Paste it into the browser address bar, or anywhere editable for that matter (the address bar is good if you want to press Enter and test when you're done, to see if it goes the right place).
Delete everything after the last /, after .com, and the #, after .html and before the bookmark number. That URL will now look like this:
http://jaysolo.blogspot.com/#94486274
Note that this can be used by the person linking to a post, or by the person encountering a non-working link and wanting to get there anyway.
That will be valid as long as the post is on the main page, which tends to be the duration of interest in a link anyhow. I consider this a poor substitute for BlogSplat hosted site owners (or anyone) keeping their permalinks valid as much as possible. Too much onus on the linkers or readers to compensate.
I rebuild the archives for this blog at least once a week. Sometimes I make a post indicating I have done so (which I have seen other people do), and sometimes I don't.
I hope this was all helpful and understandable!
On Pregnancy & Sex
Camille of IMFO has been writing about this topic. It seems she thought people didn't find pregnant women sexy, but more recently has learned that some do, and is wondering where they are.
She is also pining for comments, which have been sorely lacking, and has posted a slightly fuzzy picture of here cuteness. Why not be nice, pay her a visit and leave a random comment?
Camille of IMFO has been writing about this topic. It seems she thought people didn't find pregnant women sexy, but more recently has learned that some do, and is wondering where they are.
She is also pining for comments, which have been sorely lacking, and has posted a slightly fuzzy picture of here cuteness. Why not be nice, pay her a visit and leave a random comment?
To Infinity... Rinse and Repeat
In a post Acidman asks:
I was in the mood to answer, even if I can't be Frank (and why would I want to be?), so I answered as follows, then decided to share it here:
In a post Acidman asks:
Can you have double infinity? That's like ALL THERE IS times two. Is that possible?
I was in the mood to answer, even if I can't be Frank (and why would I want to be?), so I answered as follows, then decided to share it here:
As for infinity, it's not a number per se, but a concept, so you can have it more than once. There are infinite positive integers. There are infinite negative integers. Viola! Infinity twice.
But wait, there's more!
Within each integer lurk an infinite number of fractional numbers, just waitin' to getcha if you dare try to grasp their devious magnificence. Zzzzzhhuuupp! Fried brain for the unwary.
Since there are infinite integers each containing infinity, there can not only be two infinites, there are infinite many infinites.
The preceding brought to you from a guy who generally hated taking math classes. Go figure. No pun intended.
Friday, May 16, 2003
4000
Just got the 4000th hit momentarily ago, and it is someone on wideopenwest.com, referred from the details page on the Ecosystem for Hell in a Handbasket. They are in the Eastern time zone, and arrived at 7:22:07 PM Eastern.
Just got the 4000th hit momentarily ago, and it is someone on wideopenwest.com, referred from the details page on the Ecosystem for Hell in a Handbasket. They are in the Eastern time zone, and arrived at 7:22:07 PM Eastern.
Conundrum
So if you have a laptop, and it has a CD drive but no floppy drive, and you have a program to install on it that has a license file it looks for on a floppy while installing from the CD...
Oopsie.
I guess Mr. Lawyer won't be able to record time directly on his laptop and then batch it when he's in the office. Poor guy; he's trying to be efficient.
But hey, the company has protected itself from an illegitimate install being performed that is inappropriate to the license lotasbucks were paid for.
So if you have a laptop, and it has a CD drive but no floppy drive, and you have a program to install on it that has a license file it looks for on a floppy while installing from the CD...
Oopsie.
I guess Mr. Lawyer won't be able to record time directly on his laptop and then batch it when he's in the office. Poor guy; he's trying to be efficient.
But hey, the company has protected itself from a
Stryker Reloaded
John Stryker has further discussion of what he thinks might be going on in Matrix Reloaded, and what he thinks about it. Excellent stuff, but obviously spoilerish if you're not one of us who already rushed to see it.
I must say, I had the same Empire Strikes Back thought that he did.
I will be seeing the film again tomorrow. It should be interesting to see what I catch the second time that I missed or didn't "get" the first time through.
John Stryker has further discussion of what he thinks might be going on in Matrix Reloaded, and what he thinks about it. Excellent stuff, but obviously spoilerish if you're not one of us who already rushed to see it.
I must say, I had the same Empire Strikes Back thought that he did.
I will be seeing the film again tomorrow. It should be interesting to see what I catch the second time that I missed or didn't "get" the first time through.
Nice to Salespeople
I reformed and didn't laugh meanly at any salespeople today. Go me!
First a new guy called from one of the parts suppliers and introduced himself as the replacement for the previous rep, who had left, with whom I had a mildly rocky relationship. This one seems much better.
Then a guy from Imagistics came by and we hit it off. I always find myself evaluating salespeople - the legitimate ones - in terms of whether I might want to hire them when we need sales staff down the road. Heh. This guy I would definitely hire.
I reformed and didn't laugh meanly at any salespeople today. Go me!
First a new guy called from one of the parts suppliers and introduced himself as the replacement for the previous rep, who had left, with whom I had a mildly rocky relationship. This one seems much better.
Then a guy from Imagistics came by and we hit it off. I always find myself evaluating salespeople - the legitimate ones - in terms of whether I might want to hire them when we need sales staff down the road. Heh. This guy I would definitely hire.
I've Had My Laugh Quota for Today
Thanks to a conversation between Jim and his blog. It's really great stuff.
Thanks to a conversation between Jim and his blog. It's really great stuff.
Drugs
I just picked up my 3 month supply of Lisonopril, Atenolol and Hydrochlorothiazide. Can you imagine it? Since three months ago, they've gone up six dollars! That is so shocking. An 11% increase in three month, so that means something like 52% inflation on an annualized basis if it continues.
And here I thought we were close to sliding into a deflationary spiral, and fretting about that. Guess not; drug prices will prop up the price index and save us from deflation. Woohoo! Yay drug prices, way to save the economy!
I just picked up my 3 month supply of Lisonopril, Atenolol and Hydrochlorothiazide. Can you imagine it? Since three months ago, they've gone up six dollars! That is so shocking. An 11% increase in three month, so that means something like 52% inflation on an annualized basis if it continues.
And here I thought we were close to sliding into a deflationary spiral, and fretting about that. Guess not; drug prices will prop up the price index and save us from deflation. Woohoo! Yay drug prices, way to save the economy!
Thursday, May 15, 2003
4000 Watch
Looks like sometime tomorrow I ought to hit 4000 hits... already! I hadn't quite made 2000 at the 2 month mark, and here I am doubling that with another 10 days to go before my third month is up.
And Glenn hasn't even linked me yet, despite getting a set of lyrics in his honor. I bet Da Goddess would be more grateful.
Looks like sometime tomorrow I ought to hit 4000 hits... already! I hadn't quite made 2000 at the 2 month mark, and here I am doubling that with another 10 days to go before my third month is up.
And Glenn hasn't even linked me yet, despite getting a set of lyrics in his honor. I bet Da Goddess would be more grateful.
Carnival Observation
I got fewer hits from having a couple items linked in the Carnival of the Vanities this week, my first time, than I typically do from another blog mentioning me. Is that normal? Or does it depend how much traffic the Carnival host normally gets? Or simply whether people are intrigued enough to click through?
I'll be curious to see what happens with future entries.
I got fewer hits from having a couple items linked in the Carnival of the Vanities this week, my first time, than I typically do from another blog mentioning me. Is that normal? Or does it depend how much traffic the Carnival host normally gets? Or simply whether people are intrigued enough to click through?
I'll be curious to see what happens with future entries.
Spoon
Sgt. Stryker also has thoughts on Matrix Reloaded, more coherent than mine and with some good points on which I concur and neglected to mention, but beware spoilage that I tried to avoid in my comments below.
Sgt. Stryker also has thoughts on Matrix Reloaded, more coherent than mine and with some good points on which I concur and neglected to mention, but beware spoilage that I tried to avoid in my comments below.
Matrix Reloaded, Random Remarks
Way cool.
A little... different... from watching the first one on some level, because we already know the backstory and the original characters.
Looks like they're on their way to pulling a more sophisticated The Thirteenth Floor, but I suspect there will prove to be some twist to it in the end that blows that away by comparison. As if it doesn't already.
The spectre twins are cool.
Candidate for one of the coolest chase scenes ever. What made parts like that all the more intense is the presence of more than two conflicting parties or groups with divergent goals and interests.
Lots more conversation in this one, or so it feels, and it's heavy on philosophy.
The explanation of certain anomalous sightings by people over the course of time is intriguing, and certainly fits if you looked at the world in that context.
Elrond does a great job. The CGI geeks did a great job with Elrond redundancy and everything else.
I thought the woman who played the Oracle died before filming, so my questions about her character's presence in the matrix were not only more or less answered, but it was also great to see her.
We were trying to figure out exactly why so many people in the theater burst out laughing when they saw the keymaker; if there was something we didn't "get" or just a reaction to how he looked and was presented.
I can confirm the presence of the trailer for Matrix Revolutions if you sit all the way through the excessively long credits with music that many will dislike. It helps redeem the abrupt "to be continued" ending that cut off in an odd spot. I thought I would burst, to the point of pain, so perhaps the credits aren't really that long.
The duration of conversation we had about this move was easily three times that we had about X2 after it ended.
The waitress we had at Bertucci's afterward had been to the same showing as us, then rushed over to work. It was bizarre for her, because she's one of the five people in the country who have never seen the first Matrix movie.
I'll be seeing it again Saturday. I'm not as "dying to see it again!" as I'd expected, but it's still so intense, and good, that I just have to.
Still no Hulk trailer. I feel deprived. However, the T3 trailer makes that look better than many seem to anticipate it will be. I'll be there. It'll be the first Terminator I will have seen on the big screen.
Way cool.
A little... different... from watching the first one on some level, because we already know the backstory and the original characters.
Looks like they're on their way to pulling a more sophisticated The Thirteenth Floor, but I suspect there will prove to be some twist to it in the end that blows that away by comparison. As if it doesn't already.
The spectre twins are cool.
Candidate for one of the coolest chase scenes ever. What made parts like that all the more intense is the presence of more than two conflicting parties or groups with divergent goals and interests.
Lots more conversation in this one, or so it feels, and it's heavy on philosophy.
The explanation of certain anomalous sightings by people over the course of time is intriguing, and certainly fits if you looked at the world in that context.
Elrond does a great job. The CGI geeks did a great job with Elrond redundancy and everything else.
I thought the woman who played the Oracle died before filming, so my questions about her character's presence in the matrix were not only more or less answered, but it was also great to see her.
We were trying to figure out exactly why so many people in the theater burst out laughing when they saw the keymaker; if there was something we didn't "get" or just a reaction to how he looked and was presented.
I can confirm the presence of the trailer for Matrix Revolutions if you sit all the way through the excessively long credits with music that many will dislike. It helps redeem the abrupt "to be continued" ending that cut off in an odd spot. I thought I would burst, to the point of pain, so perhaps the credits aren't really that long.
The duration of conversation we had about this move was easily three times that we had about X2 after it ended.
The waitress we had at Bertucci's afterward had been to the same showing as us, then rushed over to work. It was bizarre for her, because she's one of the five people in the country who have never seen the first Matrix movie.
I'll be seeing it again Saturday. I'm not as "dying to see it again!" as I'd expected, but it's still so intense, and good, that I just have to.
Still no Hulk trailer. I feel deprived. However, the T3 trailer makes that look better than many seem to anticipate it will be. I'll be there. It'll be the first Terminator I will have seen on the big screen.
Ode to Skylab, Odorous Policy
The always worthy Rand Simberg posts an ode to Skylab, then expands into related policy discussion that's well worth your time to read if you have even the remotest interest in these topics. Which you ought to, if you live in the United States and/or pay taxes here.
The always worthy Rand Simberg posts an ode to Skylab, then expands into related policy discussion that's well worth your time to read if you have even the remotest interest in these topics. Which you ought to, if you live in the United States and/or pay taxes here.
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