Movie, Music And A Delightful Snack

The name of the entry says it all. I recommend the following...

Time For An Upgrade

Here's a handy website for my PC gaming comrades:

Can Your Computer Run That Game?

Broad Appeal

While watching the movie Zathura tonight, which was a surprisingly fun time btw, I started wondering when exactly kid's movies started being so cool. And for that matter, why is it I seem to enjoy many of these films more than the youngsters they would seem to be targeted at? In recent memory there's been The Incredibles, Harry Potter, Sky High, Wallace & Gromit and now Zathura. I don't remember having kickass flicks like these when I was a kid. I had The Goonies. Hmm, in hindsight perhaps the Goonies really were good enough after all.

Dirty Things

A Consumer Protection Board recently compiled a list of the most bacteria-laden items people commonly touch in public. Purell's stocks jumped 4%.

1. shopping cart handles
2. computer mice (cyber cafes)
3. bus handle straps
4. public toilet handles and door knobs
5. elevator buttons
6. train handle straps

(stats from hiptechblog.com)

Start Rant

A piece of advice for all you soccer moms driving SUVs: If the vehicle is too big for you to handle, get something more manageable. Maybe you feel safer driving an SUV, but the rest of us are terrified.

On a related note, no one needs a Hummer to drive to the grocery store. No one. It's all pavement and the rivers have bridges. Plus the things get 10 MPG. Smarten the fuck up.

Rant over.

It's Feb. 14th, That Could Only Mean...

HAPPY FRANKENSTEIN'S DAY to all

The Future Is Now!

This video is pretty incredible. Especially the part where the person is sorting out photos. Could this be the direction computer monitors are heading? Minority Report says, "Yes."

Touch! I mean, click here.

(thanks to Bryan for the link)

Friday Factoids To Impress Your Friends

• Gloucestershire Airport in England used to blast Tina Turner songs on the runways to scare birds away.
• 25% of your bones are located in your feet.
• Pierce Brosnan once worked with the circus as a fire eater.
• Sheryl Crow's two front teeth are fake. (so she chose to look like a horse??)
• Recycling one glass jar, saves enough energy to watch TV for 3 hours.
• Kite flying is a professional sport in Thailand. (Cookie, let's book a flight)
• Betsy Ross was born with a fully formed set of teeth. (Sheryl Crow envious)
  
• Pinocchio is Italian for 'pine eye'.
• 99% of people cannot lick their elbow.
• 100% of people attempt licking their elbow after reading that statistic.

A Quick Thursday Morning Q&A

Q: Hey Torrey, in your eyes how could a Grammy be portrayed as an even more worthless accolade than it already is at this point?

A: Well, I suppose they could pass over dozens of more deserving artists and simply give like five awards, including Album of the Year, to the grossly overrated band, U2. But that would just further solidify the notion that the Grammy Awards are nothing more than an elaborate popularity contest honoring mediocrity over virtuosity.

The Truth Shall Set You Free

(from gamesindustry.biz)

A former employee of Sony Online Entertainment has spoken out about how an online article criticising the PlayStation 3 ended up getting him fired from the company.

In an interview with PS3week, former SOE 3D artist Josh Robinson said: "All I really did was write a few paragraphs that gave my opinion on publicly released information... I didn’t reveal any tech info and I didn’t reveal different shipping plans. I’m still in awe at the whole uproar over what amounts to NO information."

In January, Robinson posted an article on his blog which read: "Our game just keeps getting moved back... And back... And back. Again, where is the box? Where is the final system? When is it coming out? No one knows and in the meantime people in the industry are starting to get just a little salty."

"You could always tell where the PS3 dev box was because it’s the room that had the F-bomb coming out of it half the day," he added.

But the comments most likely to have riled Sony executives were to do with the PS3's technical capabilities versus those of the Xbox 360: "I’ve also talked with people on the technical side of the Xbox 360. The consistent comment I am hearing from people on my end is, 'The Xbox 360 is better'," Robinson wrote.

"They are saying that it is capable of just doing more."

Robinson told PS3week that he asked at least two Sony employees to read the blog entry before it was posted, and even showed it to an SOE producer. "We were all in agreement that I was not breaking NDA with what I was saying," he said.

However, according to Robinson, he was "Let go at Sony after the article was plopped on the desk of Sony corporate. I was also asked to remove the article immediately, which I did without any resistance."

"Did I knowingly break NDA? I absolutely did not. I would never do that and I would never want to hurt Sony Online. Did I dance in the grey area by even opening my mouth? Yes I did and I was fired for it."

Brokeback Mountain Review

HIGHS

• One thing that makes Brokeback such a great film is the fact that it's a drama that isn't over-dramatic. The relationships that are presented are very raw and very real; the story never develops into smaltzy melodrama or degrades to the typical cliches we are so often fed. The characters involved are very honest and relatable, at the very least, on a basic human level.
• It's so nice to see a film portray gay characters as something other than Jack on Will & Grace.
• Brokeback attempts to show people that love is love, and the feelings that a person develops for another can't simply be turned off because society thinks they should be. It's an important message that not everyone is getting.
• Heath Ledger blew me away in this movie. I never thought I'd say that about 'the dude from A Knight's Tale' but he's gone and done it here. With a number of box office flops under his belt he really didn't have much to lose in taking this role. In my opinion he came through with a damn fine performance worthy of an Oscar nomination, if not a win.
• It was refreshing to see the theatre filled with a diverse group of movie-goers. There were far more men in attendance than I was expecting and also a wide range of ages present. I have to think the scene would have been much different ten or fifteen years ago. That's assuming the film would have even been released at all. As hard as he tries, I guess Bush can't hold back all forms of progress.
• Even if you aren't down with the story, Brokeback is worth seeing simply for the breathtaking locations in which it was filmed.

LOWS

• The amount of people who will resist seeing Brokeback Mountain because of their personal narrowminded viewpoints. I don't like football but I still watched Rudy, ya jerks.

Torrey's Opinion:
5- Strongly Recommended
4- Recommended
3- A Mixed Bag
2- Sub-par
1- Don't Bother

Random related fact: During Brokeback's first weekend of release (playing in only five US theatres), the film set a record for the highest per-screen gross of any non-animated movie in history.

Also, Schnepf provided me with the link to a very humorous video clip: Brokeback To The Future (the clip is spoiler-free as it is based on the film's trailer)

Munich Review

HIGHS

• The variety that is found in Spielberg's body of work is really quite astounding. Even when you look at only the films he's put out this decade: A.I., Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, War Of The Worlds and now Munich. All very different films that share few things in common, save evidence that Spielberg isn't afraid of trying new things. Mr. Shyamalan should take note of this.
• Eric Bana does a fantastic job of carrying the film on his capable shoulders. He really comes across as a credible leading man and I hope he continues to get projects in the future that allow him to show off his abilities (that would be films that aren't Troy or The Hulk).
• The feeling came across that the five men gathered for these assassinations where very much amateurs who were learning the ropes as they went. These were average guys from various walks of life who didn't 'inheret' the know-how for killing simply because they were given the task. This is refreshing, as credibility isn't always a high priority in a lot of films.
• There is a supremely intense scene in the film involving a young girl and a telephone (of which I won't go into detail for fear of spoiling it) that was brilliantly shot. Classic thriller schtick.
• You can cast Geoffrey Rush in anything and he'll hit it out of the park.

LOWS

• Munich took a fair amount of flack for it's portrayal of Palestinians but I would remind people that the film states at the beginning that Munich was "inspired by real events." How does that translate to being a representation of historical fact?

Torrey's Opinion:
5- Strongly Recommended
4- Recommended
3- A Mixed Bag
2- Sub-par
1- Don't Bother

Random related fact: After getting the rights to George Jonas's book Vengeance, Steven Spielberg commissioned three scripts: one from David Webb Peoples and Janet Peoples, one from Charles Randolph, and one from Eric Roth. Roth's script was chosen and subsequently revised by Tony Kushner.