Doctor Who - The End of Time ... and the Changing of the Guard
Over all, I liked “The End of Time” quite a bit. I thought it was loads better than any of the previous season finales in the New Who (which, frankly, have consistently sucked). For one thing, it managed to keep the worst of the schmaltz and fan service confined to a short section at the end, and while that wasn’t my favorite part of the episode by any means, I felt it made for a fitting end to Russell T. Davies’s tenure as show runner; really, what would RTD’s big sendoff be without at least a little of his signature combo of schmaltz and fan service? I’m tentatively looking forward to the new season under Steven Moffat. As I’m sure I’ve posted before, I’m extremely skeptical of the new baby Doctor (he’s younger than ME), but I’m willing to withhold judgment until I see him in the role; and all the best episodes of the new series have been written by Moffat (who’s also responsible for the excellent britcom Coupling), so while I have my misgivings, I’m trying to remain cautiously optimistic. (Copied from a conversation on Facebook)
Avatar
We watched Avatar in 3D for New Year’s.When a movie has as much hype surrounding it as Avatar does, it’s difficult not to go in with preconceptions. I didn’t want to have any unreasonable expectations, but the story sounded interesting and I’ve generally enjoyed Cameron’s work in the past, so I went in expecting it to be decent — say, a solid three-star flick — with a ton of pretty CGI eye candy as a bonus. Pretty reasonable, I think. Even so, the movie wasn’t what I expected. People will react differently to this film depending not only on their particular tastes, but in large part on their physical reaction to the visual techniques used. Many people have reported experiencing motion sickness, others have complained of strange reflections in their 3D glasses, while still others just found the graphics less effective than I did. Obviously, I only speak for myself, your mileage may vary, etc. But for me, the film was absolutely mind-blowing.First of all, the story was excellent; even though nothing specific in it felt particularly new, it managed to take many popular tropes from genre fiction — so many it felt like they made a checklist of everything the modern fanboy would want to see — and managed to combine them in a way that worked and for the most part felt natural. If you like elves, cat people, tree-hugging eco-parables, scads of nearly-topless women, dragons, mentally-bonded dragon riders, floating islands and mecha… this is very much a movie for you. Second, the presentation. The 3D messed with my eyes at first — I blinked and squinted a lot through the first 5 minutes or so of the film, and even after I got used to it, there were periodically scenes where it seemed jarringly off: the distance between objects on the screen would seem either flat or exaggerated, or one object would be in focus while the background was blurry, and because the image appeared 3D, when I looked at the blurry objects in the background my eyes would strain trying to make them focus. In other words, it was obvious this was the first 3D film they had made, and they’re still learning the best techniques for this sort of film making. I’m sure many of these kinks will be worked out with more experience, and really, they were only an occasional nuisance. Most of the time, the 3D combined with the best CGI in history to create the first mostly-CGI movie where I didn’t spend the whole time marveling at how good the CGI was. Though there are many beautiful scenes throughout the movie, it never felt like “eye candy” in the usual sense, because I kept forgetting that I wasn’t watching real people right in front of us. It just didn’t look like a movie. It looked like reality.
The Romanticization of Artistic Skills
In a recent post on Andrea Brokaw’s blog, she said:
To which I wrote the following response:
“People will know when you’re faking it.”Bullshit. I’ve read quotes from comic artists (And I believe this applies to writers and actors as well, though perhaps to a lesser extent) talking about how people will always say things like “Oh I could tell you were really into this comic” on projects they did purely for the money, and just as often have people saying “Man you really phoned it in on this one” when they’d been working really hard on something they cared about. The end product doesn’t always represent what went into making it. If you write a story you don’t care about, but follow all the rules, the latest trends and make it technically superb, even if you personally don’t have your heart set on it, most readers won’t know. It will sell, it will make money, and no one but you will know what you were truly feeling when you wrote it. “People will know when you’re faking it.”This is just another example of the romanticization of art. People look at great works of art — be they books, paintings, movies, whatever — and they say “Oh what talent you have” and talk about how this piece of art is an “expression of the artist’s inner heart and soul” and rail against those who have “sold out” by creating works of art for money instead of because it’s their “true calling”. This is all bullshit. There’s little meaningful difference between writing a good story and building a wall. Each works best when you follow certain rules and certain structures, put them together in particular ways, and either way, you don’t magically write an awesome story or build a solid wall just from your “inner talent” the first time out — you write a shitty story and build a wall that falls down, then you look at what you did, you learn from it, and practice, practice, practice… Until eventually you’ve developed the SKILL to tell a moving story or build a solid wall successfully. Once you’ve developed that skill, you can use it for any reason. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a story you LOVE any more than it matters if you’re building a wall you LOVE — If you have the skills to do it right, and put NOT your heart and soul into it, but merely your time and effort, 99% of the people who read your story or lean on your wall will neither know nor care how you personally felt about the work you did. They’ll just know that you created a good solid work.
It’s fundamental, writers are told repeatedly, not to try following market trends but to write what’s what we’re passionate about. Don’t write something you don’t love just because it’s selling better. People will know when you’re faking it. Follow your heart…
To which I wrote the following response:
Knowing
Watched “Knowing” with Nicolas Cage (actually, I watched it with my wife, but that’s neither here nor there). I had expected the sci-fi premise (a page full of numbers predicts future disasters) to just be justification for a fairly typical Hollywood adventure/disaster flick, but while it had its big Hollywood CGI set piece moments, overall it’s actually more of a suspense story (or trying to be — I found it rather predictable, but I tend to find Hollywood movies predictable). It actually fell much more solidly into the sci-fi category than I had expected; there were some neat ideas woven into the story, but unfortunately they were dragged down by heavy-handed religious overtones that turned the whole film into little more than an allegory about faith.
The Messengers 2: The Scarecrow
The Messengers may not have been the best in the glut of J-Horror wannabes that followed in the wake of The Ring, but it had a decent storyline, some creepy moments, and good acting, effects, and overall production values. It was only let down by a lackluster final act. The idea of a prequel exploring how the killer from the first movie originally snapped might have potential, if it was handled as a sort of psychological thriller. Despite the claims in the cover blurb, The Messengers 2: The Scarecrow is not that movie. In fact, it has absolutely no resemblance nor relation to the first film in any way, aside from one character sharing the same name and both taking place on farms. Even the J-Horror jerky ghosts are nowhere to be seen. Instead, it’s a B movie about a farmer struggling against the failure of both his farm and his marriage, while a creepy scarecrow picks off his acquaintances one by one. Unfortunately the acting, though not terrible, never approaches the levels necessary to make either the drama or the horror threads really sing. I rented it from a Redbox machine at Hy-Vee for $1, and it’s actually not bad for a dollar rental to fill an uneventful evening. But I would never spend more than that on it.
Code in the Cloud ((tags: mozilla, programming, question, link)
Just discovered Mozilla Bespin Coding in the cloud is a neat idea, but I’m not too impressed by the implementation so far. Anyone know of similar projects that are, well, better?
Hy-Vee Grocery Store Review
Hy-Vee is an employee owned 24-hour grocery store chain common in the southern midwest. A branch recently came to Madison, and my wife & I explored the store on opening day. It seems to be a brighter, slightly more upscale Woodman’s, with comparable selection and pricing, but a bit more focus on organic and ethnic foods. The parking lot is so big they were offering shoppers parked at the back of the lot a golf cart ride up to the door. There are multiple bicycle racks throughout the parking lot. Despite the size, it was absolutely packed. The opening day traffic made walking to the front doors safely something of a challenge, which might explain the golf carts. The main entrance consists of multiple glass doors, and my first impression upon entering was of an airport lobby. It’s a huge warehouse with very high ceilings and bright fluorescent lighting; everything is in creams, beiges, and other light, neutral colors, further adding to the feeling of open, airy space. Large, easy to read signs with solid, physical lettering hang over each major department, while smaller signs mark each aisle. On the left of the front doors is a cafeteria with plenty of seating and free Wi-Fi that serves Italian and Chinese food; further in is the Deli counter, which takes up the majority of a wall. The back corner is the Bakery, then the meat department follows the back wall. To the right of the entry is a Caribou Coffee kiosk, then the service desk, on-staff Dieticians, and finally the Pharmacy. A large doorway on the far right wall, next to the Pharmacy, leads into the Wine & Spirits department. In between all that, the interior of the store is taken up by aisle upon aisle of groceries, including health food, bulk grains, magazines and housewares. We hit the Caribou Coffee first. They have a couple small tables and a barrel of plastic cup holders that attach to your cart. The prices are comparable to other area coffee shops, but the staff was slow and obviously inexperienced, and the drinks were so-so. They tried to blend my iced chai latte; I’m not sure whether that’s a peculiarity of how Caribou Coffee makes iced drinks, or if the employee (I can’t call her an actual barista) who made my drink was just confused. The chai itself had a pleasant cinnamon flavor, but lacked the more complex spicing of good chai. My wife ordered plain coffee, which was bitter and lacking in flavor. The experience was acceptable for a quick caffeine fix while shopping, but I don’t think they’ll be taking any customers away from the far superior Steep & Brew Express across the street. Next we split a tray of duck in black pepper sauce from the cafeteria. I thought it was a touch light on the meat, which isn’t uncommon for Chinese food, but it was pretty tasty. Though again I don’t think it will be taking any business away from local restaurants, it’s certainly more than adequate to nosh on during a long day of shopping. As we explored the rest of the store, I tried to keep two main criteria in mind: selection and price. Hy-Vee definitely gets high marks on selection. Though they don’t carry my preferred brand of a couple items, it’s a huge store, and overall they have everything you could realistically expect to find, generally in numerous different brands and flavors. The only store in the area that might beat their overall selection is Woodman’s; but when it comes to ethnic and organic foods, I’d give Hy-Vee the edge. The issue of price is more complex. Hy-Vee is comparable to Woodman’s, but some items cost significantly more or less, so which store will be cheaper for you may depend on your diet. For example, milk is ungodly expensive, with the regular brands ranging from $2.49 to nearly $4 per gallon. At $1.89, Hy-Vee’s store brand milk is the only one with a realistic price. I have to assume that either they jacked up the price of the other brands so shoppers would purchase their store brand, or these prices were set by clueless out of state managers who forgot they’re opening a branch in the Dairy State. Their produce, on the other hand, is very affordable and also of much better quality than anything Woodman’s has carried in years. It seemed like nearly half the items in the store were marked at reduced prices, though, and there’s no telling how common sales will be after the opening day promotions end. Of course, if your main concern is overall savings, there’s still no beating Aldi’s, which is right next door. Though Hy-Vee does have a few store brand items priced lower (such as 0.97 for butter or 0.39 for 2 liters of soda), on most items Aldi’s is still the cheapest game in town. Being opening day, the shelves were extremely well stocked, the place was very clean, and every employee was working. The managers all wore white dress shirts, the regular employees wore blue. They were everywhere, and they greeted you every time they passed. Every. Single. Time. Friendly service is one thing, but there’s a point at which it just becomes distracting. This should be less of an issue once they settle in. It’s worth noting that every single manager I saw, out of 25 or so, was thirty-something and white, and all but one was male. I got the impression that the blue-collars were hired locally, but many of the managers were brought in from out of state. Whether they’re staying or if they’re just here to oversee the opening remains to be seen.
Madison Zombie Lurch 2009
The Zombie Lurch came again, and much fun was had by all. We didn’t have time to put together zombie costumes, but we did make our own sign for the first time this year — it seemed to go over well. Here are a few pictures I was able to get.
