Wednesday, 30 Jul 2003

The Matrix - Reloaded - the IMAX! version. a 6 stories tall screen of amazing special effects definately didn’t suck.

Some things looked better in large screen (the opening credits, the rubbery fight sequence), some things were more noticeable in larger screen (skin blemishes and imperfections, 5′oclock shadow, razor stubble, 3D CGI actors standing in for human actors in fight scenes speaking of which, I think Keanu would make a good candidate for replacement by a CGI actor), and some things annoyed me just as much as then did when they were on a normal sized screen (I don’t care how fast anyone is driving or how erratically one is weaving, but 5 minutes of strafing a car that is only 10 feet away with automatic weapon’s fire still seems pretty likely to at injure (If not kill) at least SOME of the passengers of said target car, and why stay around to fight overwhelming odds if one can fly whenever one wants?). The techno-primitive Zion rave was way too cliched for my tastes.

But all in all the movie was enjoyable, and even with her imperfections, Carrie Ann Moss still looks awfully good at much larger than life size.

It was pricey at $14 but it was definately $5 more enjoyable than a conventional first run movie theater experience. Note: Lest you think I am a hopelessly deluded fanboy geek, I didn’t really *like* this movie, the plot was goofy, the physics were incredibly inconsistent uh oh does that mean I *am* a geek?), relationships non-existant, philosophical mumbo-jumbo barely tolerable, etc - it was just fun seeing this on a really big screen.

Castle in the Sky : Another amazing film by Miyazaki. This film features another of his marvelously imagined and crafted magical worlds, a blend of mundane / familiar with the different / exotic. Children again play the primary roles, and once again he weaves in the conflicts we humans create between nature and technology. Like many of his other films, Castle in the Sky is charmingly different and unexpected and in the end hopeful for the future, even if the future is not quite what we would have imagined or chosen if we had the choice.

Wednesday, 30 Jul 2003

Castle in the Sky, The Matrix Reloaded(IMAX)

Wednesday, 30 Jul 2003

Watching TV late at night just before bedtime I stumbled onto a local public access broadcast of a jazz radio show complete with in-studio band and announcer reading copy from page held in hand. Looked like contemporaries of Mr. Rogers so I am guessing it had to be from the 70’s at the latest (and unhip even then). Not funny banter, obvious in-jokes, and serviceable band, and minimal set (do walls count as a “set”?) - but for some reason I really enjoyed it. I smiled broadly, not in derision but in happiness. I was suprised by my reaction. Perhaps I was feeling nostalgic about being a jazz radio host in a previous lifetime?

Wednesday, 30 Jul 2003

…Arriving home and not having to deal with other human’s problems and emotions.

Wednesday, 30 Jul 2003

…Public Access Television show consisting of a taped broadcast of a “local” Jazz Radio show.