Cloverfield Gets Under Your Skin

We saw "Cloverfield" yesterday. It's been talked about as a new "Blair Witch"-like experience in that there are no big name actors and it's all shot from a first-person perspective where the viewpoint is all taken from a video camera held by one of the participants. However, unlike Blair Witch, this movie isn't just a low-budget affair. It's full of fantastic special effects that really add to the impact of the movie.

The story itself is paper-thin and you shouldn't poke at it very much or it simply won't stand up to the scrutiny. However, just take it in and enjoy the ride. It does take a little bit to get going but will suddenly jump right into the main plot of the movie. In fact, I was just about to give up on the whole thing when this happened and it felt just like it would in real life. You're in the middle of conversation and, boom, something huge interrupts the affair. In this case that something is a huge monster that has appeared right in the middle of the city.

The special effects in the movie are quite stunning. It's hard to imagine how they were able to get Manhattan to look so incredibly devastated. The direction is also fantastic. You only get teasing glances of the monster initially and when you finally see it all it's well worth the wait. The tension is perfectly divvied out keeping you wondering what's next. Even the cursory background acting was superb. Shots of soldiers going all-out to fight this being impress at every turn. I couldn't get enough of one street battle.

I'm not in any big rush to see this again but it is a fun time the first time through.

Hate At All Costs Continues At Fox

The Fox News organization needs to be flushed down the toilet as it's clear from countless examples that what they have produced there is a large bowl of turds. Be sure to hold the handle down on this group.

The latest incident comes from Fox commentator John Gibson. John is a noted gay-basher who, upon hearing of the death of Heath Ledger, thought it was in good taste to, not once, but twice tell a totally inappropriate joke to his audience. The first time he he played a clip of "Brokeback Mountain" where the character played by Jake Gyllenhall says, "I wish I knew how to quit you." To this Gibson replied, "Well, it looks like he found out how to quit you."

Apparently not realizing how absolutely unacceptable this so-called joke was, he decided to revisit it later by playing another clip from the movie of Ledger's character saying, "We're dead." He then changed his voice to imitate it and then played it again.

When confronted by this his response was to refuse to apologize and stated instead, "They were just a little Brokeback Mountain joke" and that there's, "no point in passing up a good joke."

Well John, the joke should be on you. You don't know anything at this point about why Ledger died and instead choose to completely mock the guy at the worst possible time. I'm in no way surprised by this because anyone who listens to this idiot for more than five minutes understands immediately the message of hate that surrounds him.

I'm sorry but anyone who watches or listens to Fox News and hears this sort of commentary without finding it objectionable is not anyone I want anything to do with. Such people are the reason I cannot bring myself to even consider adopting their overall platform. How such people can go through life like this is a mystery.

Dow Jones and Two Presidents

For all of the pundits out there who continue to try to convince us that the current administration has done a great job with the economy, let me take a moment to remind them of some simple numbers:

When Bill Clinton took over office in 1993 the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 3,301.11. When he left it was at 10,887.36. In other words, Clinton moved the bar more than 7,500 points in eight years. Currently more than seven years in office George W. Bush has managed to get it to it's place today of being under 12,000 and heading south. At best he had it just under 14,000 and then only briefly. What I've noticed most during Bush's tenure is that the market has fluctuated heavily bounding high on the slightest positive news and then dropping like a rock on the slightest bad news. If he left office today the net result of his impact would be a change of about 1,000 points in all that time.

Please, tell me again how this administration has done such a wonderful job with the economy.

Get Creative You Lazy Asses

There's a blog post up from Robert Bowling, the Community Manager for game developer Infinity Ward titled, "They Wonder Why People Don't Make PC Games Anymore" which, of course, blames everything on piracy.

More typical garbage from a developer that expects everyone to roll wheel barrows of money up to their door.

Robert, there are plenty of companies making plenty of money in the PC game business. Ask Blizzard how much money they make from World of Warcraft on consoles.

It sounds to me like Infinity Ward just doesn't have the talent to understand the complexities of the PC market. Stick to selling games to teens on consoles guys.

We can't help it that you sell arcade games on PC's and then expect the kids you appeal to all to be honest. CoD4 (multiplayer) is junk on the PC. You loaded it up to make it look like an Xbox game and then wonder why it's being treated the way it is. Get a clue.

Stop suggesting that just because you can't handle the industry that the problems are with everyone else. Plenty of bright people have figured out how to make plenty of money in the PC gaming space. Infinity Ward just isn't one of them.

I'm always entertained when companies come along and make comments like this when others have been able to make a killing for decades before them in this industry all while piracy has been rampant. I'll once again remind people of the old developer XOR. XOR at one time had the most popular football game, NFL Challenge, long before the likes of the Madden series. This game sold for $129 and included pampering not seen in the days since. We're talking padded disc holders, laminated playbooks, etc. Anyway, they were a top seller and still worried about how many copies were being pirated. Then they put out their first data disk. The data disk was a product, due to differences in licensing, that they made a much higher profit on. They also found out that more than ten times the number of users ordered the data disk than had purchased the actual game. Infinity Ward would have followed this with a post about being so upset about the "lost" revenue. XOR responded by removing the copy protection of their game and selling many more data disks. That's being creative.

Our Great Health Care System

There's news out today regarding an eight year study conducted by leading doctors that shows that 25% of heart attack victims end up waiting an hour or more to see a doctor in our emergency rooms. The average wait for these patients, each with the highest level of potential fatality, was 14 minutes.

I suspect the right might try to convince you that the wait would be even longer in other systems. I don't buy it. I am growing extremely disgusted by the complete lack of honesty coming out of conservative pundits these days, and their parroting followers, regarding universal health care.

The biggest lie being told by these people is the often-repeated line that the last thing we want is failed system like those found in the UK, France, Canada and elsewhere. They also argue that the best solution is our free market system where competition will address these things. Neither of these is true.

First, I deal with people daily from all over the world. We're talking about mainly gamers here who tend not to be the best physical specimens. We've seen other data that suggests gamers see doctors more than non-gamers and that's probably due in large part to being more sedentary. Whatever the reason, I'm saying that the people I talk with are fair subjects to ask about their health care systems. To listen to Republicans you'd think everyone in these countries is fed up with their options and the costs. Yet, every time I ask about it I cannot find a single person from these countries who has anything bad, especially in comparison, to say about their health care. Why is it that the endless line of people I speak to all tell me their systems are just fine if it's so obvious to our conservatives that their systems are so bad?

When I tell them about how things work here they are aghast and cannot believe we put up with it. They are shocked by the costs we incur and never talk about the taxes they pay for it. Friends in England talk openly about their willingness to make sure everyone gets basic health care and they point out that anyone there is free to go outside the system and use private doctors if they so choose.

As far as the free market equation, this is yet another great-sounding bit of rhetoric but that's all it is. First, it's already supposed to be a free-market solution so why is it so troublesome? Why aren't we all amazed, like we are with our phone bills, about the wonders of the free market to reduce our medical bills? Second, we don't have a free market when it comes to most industries, especially the medical industry. The entire industry is controlled by corporate interest and no real free market economics are going to be applied to it. That will not be allowed to happen.

We're also given the argument that our system allows for all these great drugs that we wouldn't have in other systems. Bull. What drugs? Every day we read about another drug we've been fed that either doesn't work or, worse, does more damage than good. Go to another country and see a doctor. The first thing your apt to have happen is for those doctors to get you off the medication we've been brainwashed into believing we need. Sure there are some great drugs coming out of the system but there are also many coming out of government-funded research and other countries.

The bottom line is that our system is not one to be held up as a beacon of success. You also have to stop listening to sources who tell you things without checking for yourself. I can't believe the number of people who just love to tell you we have the greatest medical system in the world without having one clue about the situation anywhere but here. It's just like the audio industry examples I've run into many times where consumers tell me, "This is the best headphone I've ever used" and then when you ask which others they've used you find that they've only used that one or one or two others.

I've also had some "informed" people get on me for my so-called anecdotal evidence regarding my experience with my broken leg (broken and treated in Canada). However, they offer no such evidence of their own while criticizing mine. They have no personal experience with these other systems but yet my experience is of no value to them. The reality is that these people only hear what they want to hear. Anything else is invalid.

Saw It Again

My friend Dave called on Saturday to see if I wanted to go to the movies and offered to pick up the tab. That's hard to turn down. He decided he wanted to see "The Orphanage" and I was game even though I'd just seen it the night before.

My view of the movie didn't change on the second viewing. The only negative was that Dave didn't seem to like it as much as the rest of us. He's a very finicky movie viewer at times. If a movie is animated he's very unlikely to see it. If it has subtitles, as this one did, he's going to go into it with a negative perspective. After it was over he complained that he missed "half the movie" between having to look up and down from the words to the screen. I can't say I agree with him on that one.

Anyway, what I did get from the second viewing was a chance to see if the movie had cheated on plotlines and if everything tidied up nicely and it all did. In fact, I realized a few things that I'd missed or didn't quite get the first time through.

I'm still not sure if this movie belongs in 2008 or 2007. It apparently has been out for some time elsewhere but just showed up here Friday. I've I moved it to 2007 I'd have to put it in my top five. Otherwise it's likely to be a top choice for next year.

On a down note I see Daniel Day Lewis got the Golden Globe award for Best Actor for that goofy neck-craning performance. I guess I just don't get it.

The Masterpiece That Is The Orphanage

I just returned from seeing the latest movie from the incredibly talented Guillermo del Torro, The Orphanage. This is the same film maker that brought us the wonderful tale of Pan's Labyrinth. del Torro is quickly becoming one of my favorite film makers. This is a man who knows how to tell a story and how to build the atmosphere around it with every single shot. While there's some question as to exactly how much, if any, of this movie is actually his work, its look and feel fit what I expected. I knew from the opening credits that we were in for a great ride.

What I didn't realize was just how engrossed I'd become with this movie. It's essentially the tale of a woman who, as a child, is brought up in a well-run orphanage. We don't get all the details but it's clear that her memories are full of positive experiences. When the opportunity arises much later in life to buy the orphanage she and her husband gladly move there with their young son, Simon, to re-open it to children of need. Their son is fairly typical for an only-child and has a cadre of imaginary friends. The trouble is that now in the orphanage the latest of these has driven Simon into disturbing behavior. The movie takes off from there to follow that tale to its wondrous conclusion.

The film is rated "R" almost entirely for shear violence but we still risked it and took my nearly 13 year-old and he too was mesmerized by it. Yes, it's foreign. As with "Labyrinth", it's in Spanish with English subtitles but you won't care after the first two minutes. The plot starts out slowly, but not too slowly, and continually builds the tension. This movie never falters by cheating with the story. There's nothing here to feel let down about. It shows once again that a wonderful story doesn't need incredible special effects or gimmicks.

Is it a horror movie? Not really. That's not to say it won't scare the pants off you. I was on the edge of my seat several times. It also packs a couple of jarring scenes that remind you that it has the power to frighten you at will. Many might have been happy with just that but this movie is a fairytale of classic proportions. It's so much deeper than the cheap thrill of a quick pay-off.

By the end of it I was, yet again, completely moved to tears and wonderment over the beautiful telling of a tremendous story. Bravo!

There Will Be Blood And Snoring

Just got back from seeing, "There Will Be Blood". This is a movie that has been getting rave reviews from everywhere and is already being called one of the very best movies of 2007. Every reviewer that puts this at the top of his best movies list needs to be ignored from here on out.

This is a painfully dull movie from start to finish. It's two hours and 38 minutes long and was boring after the first five minutes of that. At the end three people clapped and several others hissed them down.

This is the type of movie that shows you a shot of two people driving in a car. The shot is from a short distance away so you know who is in the car but can't really see anything else. The car drives along the road. No one says a word. No one moves a muscle but the shot continues, seemingly for a minute. Car driving uninterestingly along a road..... Why? Why must we see this image for so long? An argument has been made that this sort of shot is needed to convey the era and set the tone. Gee, and here I thought the subtitles and the surroundings would have pulled that off.

Much has also been made of the exemplary acting. I don't get it. I respect Daniel Day Lewis. His work in movies like "In The Name Of The Father" is second-to-none. This was something else entirely. He clearly is imitating someone and I've heard it was possibly the late director, John Huston. Frankly I don't care who it was. The result was distracting and annoying. He spends half the movie bent forward and craning his neck with a scowl on his face that gets old after ten minutes. I thought the idea of acting was for it to be invisible to the viewer. This is anything but that.

There's also a large number of questions that go entirely unanswered in this movie. Fans will denote that this is part of the allure. My view is you can't have it both ways. Either the movie takes forever to lay out the pieces or it doesn't. You can't take a minute to show a car painfully driving along the road and then entirely skip major plot elements.

If this film wins as best movie of 2007 something is very wrong with the award. Go take a nap and save your money. The random dream you have will likely be more entertaining.

Audio Battle Follow-up

First of all, happy new year. Not sure what 2008 will bring but if nothing else it will bring a lot of political commercials. Oh, wait... That's not a good thing. Oh well.

Anyway, I've been going round-and-round with a technology advisor's group I belong to. This group is stocked with well-off, staunch conservatives who believe that capitalism is always right and that we all would be better off in the hands of the corporate elite. Of course they wouldn't see it that way but that's how it is.

Several of them are arguing that the act of ripping your music from a CD is illegal. None of them can point me to anything that shows this is illegal. One attempted to but pointed me to the Copyright Act of 1976. This is the same document the Supreme Court used to make its case that fair use included ripping CD's.

As I noted, the real battle here is the hidden one regarding the industry's desire to force us all into a PPL (Pay-Per-Listen) model or as close as they can get to it. One of the guys refuted this by suggesting that the industry brought us digital downloads. Yeah, they brought it to us about as much as Christ brought the world crucification.

The music industry was dragged, kicking and screaming into the digital format.

In 2005 in the case MGM v. Grokster, lead council for the RIAA and the music industry told the Supreme Court:

"The record companies, my clients, have said, for some time now, and it's been on their website for some time now, that it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod."

That was when they thought that CD's were a major player in how people would populate the iPod's. Once they realized people were boycotting CD's their tune changed. They then came to see CD's and their stance as an impediment to selling people digital versions of songs and now they want to change the rules again.