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Sun, 11 May 2008
[22:02] World War Z - Rating: 7/10
I just finished reading World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks (who's name you might recognise from the satirical Zombie Survival Guide). I was recommended and loaned this book by a colleague during a discussion of all things apocalyptical earlier this week (in return I loaned him Survivors which you can also read online - it's an interesting read) and I, in turn, recommend it to all and sundry.
It's not a zombie gore-fest but a series of vignettes told by survivors of "World War Z", the decade long war fought by humanity against the undead zombie hordes. There is the occasional graphically violent scene but for the most part it's interesting riffs on how assorted nationalities would fare against a zombie invasion, the aftermath and the rebuilding from a personal point of view. It's not going to become a socio-poitical textbook but it's got some interesting food for thought on various currently topical subjects mixed in with a great story! The tale covers several countries and the author manages to shift tone quite succesfully from narrator to narrator. Most of the main themes are American-centric with tangential references to things like the various wars being waged and the state of international relations at the moment, slightly spiced by being referred to in the past tense.
All in all, a nice bit of weekend escapism (350 pages with lots of spaces due to the interview-style dialog) with the possibility of some pondering on the meaning of it all should you wish to partake.
[Posted at: 22:02 11/05/2008]
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Fri, 02 May 2008
[11:33] Iron Man - Rating: 7/10
We went out to see the new Iron Man movie this evening and I was pretty impressed! I've never been a huge Iron Man fan but I know the general story line and the movie appears to stick pretty closely to that. Robert Downey Jr. was brilliant as Tony Stark and the special effects were most enjoyable! The whole film is similar to the Transformers in that it's a foregone conclusion as to what's going to happen, it's all about how you get there. Also, there's not a great deal of annoying boy/girl stuff to get in the way of the action :) I recommend seeing it if you're not going to get upset about basic physical and chemical laws from this universe being flaunted with impunity.
Don't forget to stay to the end of the credits for the Iron Man 2 teaser with Samuel L Jackson portraying Nick Fury. I was a little surprised that Jackson was Fury as I was under the impression that Fury was a white guy. Turns out that I'm incredibly behind the times and that there's this thing called the Ultimate Marvel Universe in which all of the characters have been "reimagined" to bring them up to date with current times and the re-imagined Fury was specifically (and with permission) modelled on Jackson!
[Posted at: 11:33 02/05/2008]
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Sun, 04 Nov 2007
[19:05] New shoes!
I tend towards extreme footwear normally, my current shoes are a pair of LaCrosse EMS Steel-cap Leather boots and while you can be pretty sure that your feet will be relatively safe from whatever you kick or drop on them, they're really a bitch to run in. Most of the exercise I normally do can be conducted barefoot so I don't really have any lighter shoes apart from my Dunlop Volleys (speaking of which, check this out: Steel-capped "Safety" Volleys!!).
Anyway, I was introduced to an exciting new concept in footwear this past week, the Vibram FiveFingers! A team-mate at work showed up in a pair of the taupe-clay (apparently that's a colour) Sprints and explained that he'd had them for a while and had gone hiking in them just this past weekend. I was hooked pretty much instantly. I did some digging around and located a semi-local retailer and we drove up to Berkeley and picked up a nice red pair this afternoon.
They were a smidgey bit troublesome to get on initially, my toes aren't used to wearing gloves and these are harder to put on than those socks with toes because they're made of not so pliable rubber. Eventually I got them on (I think the trick is to put them on somewhat approximately and then stand up and let your toes fit themselves as they straighten) and wore them around all afternoon. I usually go barefoot when I can so my feet are quite used to walking without a thick sole but it was nice to have all the advantages of being barefoot (you can feel everything underneath your feeet) with a modicum of protection from the sharp and pointy things in life. I went for a bit of a run around the block on ashphalt and grass and tried out the grip by jumping on a couple of fences and fire hydrants. They felt good, provided nice tactile feedback for balancing on thin poles and didn't flap about like I thought they might as they seem to be designed for people with significantly more bulbous heels than mine. They also stayed on when I jumped in the pool and did a couple of laps and didn't really impede my swimming much (I am a pretty crappy swimmer though). The weren't quite so grippy when I came out of the pool but they weren't super slick either. All in all I'm pretty happy so far but there're a couple more things I'd like to try: everyday usage and bouldering.
[Posted at: 19:05 03/11/2007]
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Wed, 04 Jul 2007
[12:24] Transformers - Rating 7/10
We got to go and see Transformers last night as part of a Google pre-relase viewing which was cool! The movie was pretty much like watching a 2 hour version of the original cartoon; which was awesome in all it's three-dimensional glory (we won't talk about the filthy, awful Beast Wars)! There were cool transforming vehicles, angry little mobile phones, fight scenes aplenty and Optimus Prime, bless his titanium soled-slippers, is still a preachy over-righteous do-gooder. The movie didn't try and take itself too seriously so there was plenty of humour interjected with the plot (for want of a better word) and I suspect this is one of those movies that you'll be able to watch frame by frame to pick up all the little jokes (like Barricade's "To punish and enslave" sticker).
Overall, I think this is a pretty good action movie. The plot is see-through and generally incidental to the movie as an experience. It does contain one of my pet peeves, crazy-ass technobabble (OMG, it hax0r3d your firewall in less than 10 seconds with super-frequency evolving DNA pwnage. WTF!) and I initially was upset at what I thought they'd done to Soundwave, my favourite Decepticon! Turns out that wasn't Soundwave but some dude called Frenzy. If you follow that link you'll find out that they didn't want to have to deal with "morphing" large robots into tiny tape-decks but have reserved the right to bring him in in one of the sequels. Apart from that, the lack of DinoBots and the somewhat extraneous love scenes it was all good! I think it was best summed up in a quote from one of my colleages:
That movie was awesome. If you came in expecting a treatise on the human condition, I could understand disappointment, but for those coming in expecting giant robot fights and explosions, it was pretty sweet.
[Posted at: 04/07/2007 12:24]
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Sat, 15 Jul 2006
[16:44] Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Rating 3/10
We had the choice of seeing either Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest or Distict 13 this weekend, we made the wrong choice...
I'm a big Johnny Depp fan so it was really disappointing for me to watch this film and hate it so - I think this is the first thing he's done that I've not loved - bear in mind I never saw 21 Jump St. I tried really hard to enjoy it but there were just so many problems. I've managed to tally up the pros and cons - I'll start with the pros because it's a pretty short list.:
- Awesome action! There are some truly brilliant and original action scenes in this movie (there have been complaints that there was too much action but at least it stopped me from getting bored). The three-way sword fight in three scenes is easily the highlight of the movie!
- Outstanding soundtrack. If I had the option, I think I'd rather buy the soundtrack than watch the movie. Well done Hans Zimmer!
- This movie does go on for rather a long time (two and a half hours), this could be forgiven if there were any kind of point to the movie and the plot needed time to wrap up. There isn't and it didn't.
- The characterisation of Captain Jack Sparrow by Mr Depp in the first movie was novel and unique. It broke the generic pirate mould and was fun to watch, never being quite sure what would happen next. Second time round it's not so fresh; the "repartee" is no longer clever but drops to childish and obvious, the personification no longer camp but annoying.
- I kind of mentioned this before but there's no coherent plot - there are little ploticles or plotlets (call them what you will) but they're never allowed to grow past the introductory stage. It looks like either the director or the writer or whoever does these things was creating a scene and read ahead...got distracted by something shiny in the next scene and never came back to finish the previous one, ending up with two and half hours of something akin to Eat Carpet.
- Finally, the ultimate travesty, THE MOVIE DOESN'T END!!! This is a major mistake in the scale of the Matrix disaster. In my opinion they should have left well-enough alone with the first movie. If they HAD to make a second then fine, make a sequel. But to take a movies worth of material and attempt to stretch it to two movies is just ludicrous and greedy (that's right - I'm onto your little scheme Disney). I for one will not be shelling out money to see the third installment.
[Posted at: 16/07/2006 00:44]
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Mon, 03 Jul 2006
[09:32] Fearless - Rating 7/10
We went to see Fearless (aka Huo Yuan Jia) on the weekend for two reasons:
a) because it's a Jet Li movie
b) because I've been intrigued by the advertising on the buses recently stating that this was "Jet Li's last Martial Arts Movie"
I was wondering if somehow Jet Li had died and I'd managed to miss that, it seems not.
Fearless was an excellent movie on several levels:
- If you're a martial arts junkie then there are fight scenes aplenty. It had a fair chunk of wire-work, or what I assumed to be wirework, but it was pretty unobtrusive (I really hate the whole pseudo-flying/jumping that goes on in a lot of martial arts style movies these days) and there's a good mix of hand-to-hand as well as armed combat!
- If you like your movies to have a plot then, once again, you're in luck! The plot is easy enough to follow (although there are a couple of rather odd leaps through time right at the beginning) and doesn't seem to suffer from "translating the untranslatable" that impacts a lot of films with asiatic origins. The subtitles are easy to read except for a quick two-liner in the first five minutes. As an additional bonus the fight scenes are actually a an integral part of the plot rather than the plot being built as a vehicle for the fight scenes.
- It's real purty-like! The cinematography is excellent and both the action sequences and other scenes are beautifully shot and a pleasure to watch, with only one slightly cringe-worthy CGI moment, again right at the beginning.
- There's a moral to the story that you can take away at the end (although the movie doesn't end with a panning shot of everyone laughing at an inane joke).
Regarding the "Jet Li's Last Martial Arts Movie" quote, it seems that he's said all he's got to say on the subject of "martial arts" however, he will continue to make "action" and "kungfu" films! The rationale behind that:
So it looks like there're plenty more awesome movies coming up including a possible collaboration with Jackie Chan!!!Action and martial arts stories only use the form of martial arts. Kungfu represents a concept of time. You spend time practicing it, and you learn new skills. Martial arts are an overall concept, which also includes nurturing the soul.
There's more information on the Jet Li background story here and a much better review and some additional background info here.
[Posted at: 03/07/2006 17:32]
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Sun, 28 May 2006
[07:16] X-Men: The Last Stand - Rating: 6/10
X-Men: The Last Stand is pretty much your standard blockbuster fare, very much a sit back, tune-in, turn-off kinda deal. Which is not to say it's a bad movie! The majority of the X-Men morality tale was taken as being dealt with in the previous two films and the stage was left clear for the special effects.
The special effects were well-implemented, the acting was mostly good, the plot was not mind-snappingly contradictory and I didn't have to sit there constantly thinking "must willingly suspend disbelief" so all in all - a successful movie! My only gripe was the glaringly obvious continuity errors (the daytime/night-time switch was the "best" of these).
Two things more to mention:
1) Don't forget the post-credits snippet; and
2) If this is the last X-Men movie then I'll consume some form of inedible headgear.
[Posted at: 28/05/2006 15:16]
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Fri, 07 Apr 2006
[09:21] Pink Panther (2006) - Rating: Worse than Ticker
Well, I used to rate movies based on how much better they are than Ticker, the current version of The Pink Panther has reset the bar for awful movies and scores a sum total of absolutely zero stars!
Even taken as a stand-alone move and not comparing it to the originals it really is bad. Not "so bad it's funny" bad, just plain bad.
- The accents were grating - I've read various arguments saying that they were meant to be - I don't buy it.
- The slapstick was minimally amusing (the catapulting ID card and the bathroom disaster for instance were funny) but mostly it was checklist comedy, sung to the tune of "Hot Shots" but really, really badly and out-of-tune (to stretch the analogy). There was even one scene that seemed to be wire-assisted (the Globe vs the cyclist), which just took the humour out if it for me.
- Mostly it's the puerile Americanisation (for want of a better term) of British humour. What's up with that car parking scene at the start, maybe one bump would have been amusing but the back and forth for no reason was just, well, pointless. That, followed up by the "Haha, his face is in her groin" joke really put me off from the start.
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Mon, 27 Mar 2006
[23:17] Idiot Pilot - Strange We Should Meet Here - Rating 4/5
"Strange We Should Meet Here" is the CD I bought myself for my birthday after Shona recommended it to me (because she liked the cover). I listened to it on the magical Virgin listening stick and the 30 second clips sounded good so I bought it.
The first listen at home made me think "Have I made a bit of a mistake here?" but the fact that I've had it on high rotation since then makes me think "No". It's a bloody great album! The songs are generally built on a background mix of ambient electronica, soft guitar and vocals with some Deftones/Filter/NIN style screaming singing smashing in for backing vocals and the chorus every now and then. It's proving to be really great coding music and is what I spent a goodly portion of Saturday and Sunday listening to.
Weighing in at 14 tracks and just under an hour (57 minutes and 37 seconds) its good value for money in both the quality and quantity department. Favourite tracks? Hmmmm. The title track "Strange We Should Meet Here" which meanders in just past the halfway point of the CD is excellent and "A Violent Tango" provides a good example of what the majority of the album is like. "Spark Plug" is a nice mash of guitar and electronic distortion and you can even pick out the vocals on this one. "Moerae" is somewhat reminiscent in style of the Bram Van 3000 track "Drinking in LA" (which I really love). Meh...they're all good - just go buy the damn CD folks.
For more information check out the website at www.idiotpilot.com or you can sneak-preview a couple of the tunes here (which is cool!).
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Mon, 02 Jan 2006
[12:35] A Dancing Bear - Rating: 4/5
A Dancing Bear is the debut book of one Mark Osher. Sadly it seems that it could be his last as, due to repeated rejections from publishers, he has taken the somewhat drastic measure of disappearing!
I finished it this afternoon after spending about 15 hours over the last four days dedicated to devouring it - the only thing that stopped me reading it any faster is the fact that it is online and it's hard to curl up in bed with the internet.
The story is set in Australia and centers on a portion of the life and times of Fenton Brand, a university student whose life gets a little "complicated". Every theme you could ask for is contained within: unrequited love, revolution and radicalism, sex, political correctness, poetry, blundering ineptitude, serial-killers and terrorists and it is unrelentingly funny from Chapter 1.
If comparisions had to be made, the closest literary allusions I could make would be to Tom Sharpe. A Dancing Bear, like the work of Mr Sharpe, does come with a bit of a language warning but it's all part of the vernacular of the people at the core of the story.
The only reason I haven't given A Dancing Bear five out of five is because I'm hanging on to the slender hope that Mark shall re-appear and produce another, even better, book.
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