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when in Rome (2)

Second review of Apartment Amore Di Ripetta booked through Rome-Accom:
(Updated with more information about the trip in general.)

* great support from Leon Kammer, when I discovered I had booked over Good Friday - Easter Monday long weekend and wanted to move the reservation back a week

It's quiet and bright, a great location for exploring the city.

You can get groceries at a small corner grocery store (Alimentari) just down the alley (see it in streetview), or there is a well-hidden large (for downtown Rome) grocery store at 22a Via Vittoria.

Di per Di, Via Vittoria 22a (Google Map)
It's down a long corridor. Look for the arched entrance at the intersection of Via Vittoria and Via Bocca di Leone.

* the hot water heater wasn't working and I didn't quite understand Modesto's instructions on how to fix it - however Rosie came and fixed it and explained in more detail exactly the (somewhat complicated) steps to follow to get it working (Rosie and Modesto are the English-speaking local contacts in case of any problems)

* You're supposed to phone the apartment contact when you're leaving the airport so they can be there to meet you with the keys

* I took the SITbus from the airport (Fiumicino / FCO, Leonardo da Vinci), it worked out great. It's 8 euros. You can book it online although they will also sell you a ticket while you wait. Much cheaper than a taxi or doing a train plus a metro to get near the apartment. It is not particularly easy to find - follow the bus signs inside the airport, then go outside, up some steps and across the street.

You can see the ramp you need to go up in streetview. Go up it, cross the street, and you should see the SITbus sign.



Piazza Cavour was a good dropoff location for me. The bus from the airport only goes to Cavour and Termini (the train station). It has lots of room for luggage, but MAKE SURE you get your bags put into the Piazza Cavour luggage section of the bus, otherwise you will end up with them buried behind a ton of Termini bags and have to crawl in and bang your head (err, based on my experience).

So unless you're somewhere near Cavour, you may be better off just taking the train directly to the station downtown (it's called the Leonardo Express and it's only 14 euros) although the train supposedly can be quite crowded and pickpocket-y. The bus only had a few people on it and was quite comfortable.

I found these Ron in Rome postings about getting from the airport to be useful:
* The Train Station at FCO
* New – FCO SITBus Shuttle although there is no validation machine for tickets, unlike what it says in the post

More about Rome visiting in general:

First off, if you're looking to see Ancient Rome, don't set very high expectations.
Two things happened: one, a thousand years of neglect led to the remains of ancient Rome now being metres underground, under buildings and paved plazas and two, more significantly, Renaissance Rome ate Ancient Rome. The popes in particular but also various princes and nobles used ancient Rome as a source of building materials and knickknacks. Many temples were deliberately destroyed as their pagan nature offended the church. It also didn't help that Rome was invaded repeatedly. What is left is basically rubble that wasn't of interest, and a very small number of freestanding structures that partially survived. So what you're talking basically is the Pantheon, the remains of the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine, and Trajan's Column.

The rest is very hard to understand, bits of buildings and crumbled stone, and unfortunately very few reconstructions available so you know what you're looking at. (There are reconstructions but mostly out at Museo della Civiltà Romana, far from the city centre.)

I did like the Ara Pacis museum, which has a reconstruction of how it was sited, and a well-preserved object.

It's not that lots of stuff wasn't left, but to see it you have to go to e.g. the Vatican Museums, where the best bits that were dug up and taken are highlighted.

I did the Viator Skip the Line 8 AM tour, it was good. I think the guide's name was Katrina, she was amusing. It's Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, I don't think they do the tour inside St. Peter's (it didn't open until 1 PM that day, so we didn't go, anyway). It was a 7 person group, with headsets, and we definitely did beat the line - breezing in, tickets picked up for us, walked through security no problems and right on into the museum. We didn't wait in any lines.

An important note: make sure they can reach you. Contact numbers and email. Our tour was actually scheduled for Tuesday but the Vatican wasn't opening early that day - they contacted me by email while I was in Rome and I was able to call them and get it rescheduled for Thursday.

The departure is from the TOP of the steps next to Caffè Vaticano. Vaticano is self-serve so we didn't have any trouble sitting there without buying anything for a few minutes after we walked to the Vatican from our apartment. There also wasn't any problem using the washroom at the Caffe although rather disturbingly I couldn't figure out how to lock the door of the single unit they provide (there are only washrooms at the very beginning and the very end of the 3 hour Vatican tour). Here's the streetview.

I got a Roma Pass which gets you past the (potentially very long) ticket line at the Colosseum, and three days of public transit, as well as discounts at other museums.

For Galleria Borghese I recommend NOT prepaying your tickets. Phone and book them to pick up. That way if you don't actually manage to go (as has happened to me the last two visits) you're not out-of-pocket any money.

I enjoyed the Galleria Doria Pamphilj, I read about it in an article in the Globe:

It's called the Galleria Doria Pamphilj and contains one of Europe's finest private collections, including works by Velasquez, Raphael, Titian and Caravaggio, plus a mummified saint. Make sure to get the audio guide. It is narrated by Jonathan Doria Pamphilj, who brings the palace (still his home) to life; as a kid, he would roller-skate through its galleries.

Globe and Mail - Rome, without the crowds - July 17, 2009

The gallery was indeed very good, the narration charming and the crowds absent.
It's really quite surprising that it's not crowded as it is right smack downtown. It is not particularly "near" the Pantheon (despite what the article says, or I suppose, depending on your definition of "near"). Reading my map, I looked for an entrance off of, I think, Via del Plebiscito, but to no avail. The entrance is in fact on Via del Corso, near the Piazza Venezia. Here's a streetview. The audioguide is included with the price of admission. It's not particularly well set up with signage, basically once you buy your tickets you wander in and up some stairs, and once you're done you wander down some stairs and out.

Overall it was a very good stay in Rome again.

Previously:
January 02, 2010 when in Rome

Labels: review, rome, travel

posted by Richard at 12:01 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Where the Wild Things Are

Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are is a beautiful movie.
I must state right up front though: NOT FOR KIDS. Not at all for kids. Probably not for anyone under 18.

SIDEBAR:
On the one hand, you can say "giant monsters?" but art is art. We should never mistake style for audience. You can do cartoons, puppetry, masks, all sorts of theatrics, all just for adults.

It is unfortunate that Jonze picked a children's story as the basis for a story intended for adults, but they should have made that clear in the marketing.
END SIDEBAR

The story is a meditation on what it is to be human, the joy and the pain. It's about the gift and the tragedy of the terrible power of our minds to imagine impossibilities, and to achieve great things. It's about the extraordinary imagined self, versus the entirely ordinary reality of ourselves. It explores our casual cruelty and our profound regret, our anger and our freedom.

It shows, as clearly as you can without having a single person alone as in Cast Away, our solitude, our otherness, our isolation, even amongst others.

The young actor who carries the movie, Max Records, the only human we see for the vast majority of the screen time, is extraordinary in what must have been a very difficult role (the world created looks great on screen, but it must have taken great imagination to live it in the moment). He conveys a wide range of emotions very convincingly and naturally.

I identified strongly with this movie because I spent a lot of time as a kid alone, moving in the real world yet simultaneously moving through my imagined world.

Labels: movie, review

posted by Richard at 20:21 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Caprica sucks

While I'm in a TV mode.
Tried the Caprica pilot. meh.

The inevitable issues list:
* Greco-Roman polytheistic religions don't have the concept of personal redemption through good acts. You can make sacrifices to the gods, but it's basically up to their whims whether they listen or not. Thus the head of the Athenian girls-and-one-boy school would never have said "love your enemies", the Romans had no such concept and it would have been alien for anyone to articulate it, it would have been a huge red flag for the inspector guy. Athena is a fricking huntress. "Slay your prey" would be a more accurate belief statement.
* I don't like ANY of these nearly-almost setups:
** the "Christian girls school" that is the Athenian academy thing
** the "Sicilian crime mob" that is the Halaa from Tauren
** the "discrimination against black people" that is the discrimination against the Tauren
** the one god monotheism that is way too soon and too obvious
** the "look it's Baltar without the sleeping around" of Greystone and his house on the water and his genius inventing of everything
** the "sort of FBI guy" that is the investigating terrorism guy
* I don't like it's all teens. Who cares about teens? Teens have a single North American narrative: weak confused rebel s3x drinking angry clueless blah blah blah.
- That TV show has been made a bazillion times.
- "birth control!" - this is her big finish in insulting her parents? seriously? in a Greco-Roman society? Greco-Romans could give a f*ck about t33ns using birth control. proper (that is, socially appropriate that brings status advancement) marriage is important to G-R society. What you do with your hoo-hah, not so much.
* I don't like that their tech is more advanced than we see on the Pegasus
* I don't like that Joseph Adama is a crook

It's also pretty clear how the whole retcon goes.

*** SPOILER OILER OILER SPOILER ****




Angry teen robot girl turns all her dad's killer robots into monotheistic terrorists and gets her revenge on the adults for... well, being adults. Adama something redemption something discrimination something opposing Greystone and loses. The end. That's the entire plot arc.

Labels: caprica, review, television

posted by Richard at 21:22 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

review of Innate MC2 storage container

I just sent this review to the mec.ca site

Although Innate is a Canadian company, this container is Made in China (and is clearly labelled as such).



I got this because I was looking for a non-plastic container.

For camping: Relatively lightweight. No information on manufacturer's website on whether you could safely heat the stainless steel bottom over a fire. Microwavability of silicone cover probably not relevant.

For daily use (e.g. lunch container): It's a great size for a sandwich container. However there are quite a few downsides compared to e.g. a Pyrex glass container: 1) you can't see what's inside 2) they recommend you hand-wash the MC2 3) unknown freezer safety - stainless steel may contract, losing seal 4) unknown stovetop / oven safety for stainless steel bottom 5) can't microwave stainless steel bottom 6) silicone top only good for microwaving solids/semi-solids, they say it's not rigid enough to handle liquids

As a food storage container: The main practical use is only as transport, while using some other oven/microwave safe bowl or plate at your destination. That's a bit of a hassle.
I'm not saying I don't like this container - it's fine for storing leftovers in the fridge, or for transporting sandwiches or other things you don't need to cook. I actually have two of these stylish containers. But I do find glass containers to have a wider range of practical uses, particularly the standard fridge - microwave - dishwasher cycle.

For "I would recommend this product to a friend" - if they were just transporting or storing food a lot, yes. If they're looking for a non-plastic container for lunches, a traditional lunchbox or glass containers are better options.

Pros: Lightweight
Cons: Complicated

Links:
* MEC: Innate MC2 Container 1.1L
* Innate: MC2 Container

Labels: review

posted by Richard at 19:56 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

when in Rome

Review of Apartment Amore Di Ripetta booked through Rome-Accom:

Had a great time staying in this apartment and plan to come back. It was hot in Rome when we were there at the end of May 2009, so we were glad that there was air conditioning, albeit a single unit in the master bedroom.

The apartment is spacious and was spotlessly clean. It includes a covered patio, living room, dining area, two good-sized bedrooms each with its own bathroom, and a nice kitchen. There are steps to go up to get to it, or if you prefer you can take a traditional small slow European elevator.

While notionally in the Spanish Steps area, it's actually closer to Piazza del Popolo, the Flaminio metro stop, and the Villa Borghese. Near the heart of the action in the Tridente, it's nevertheless on a quiet side street. There are restaurants and a cafe around the corner in a pedestrian alley, and all of Rome just steps beyond.

The only thing that was missing is wifi (wireless Internet), but there is free wifi in the Villa Borghese park nearby (requires an Italian cellphone number to access).

There were only two issues we encountered when we were there:

1) The air conditioner drips a lot, we had to put a bucket below it when it was running.

2) The automatic watering system for the plants on the balcony was turned off with no way to turn it back on, and we worried the plants might die; we watered them by hand.

Labels: review, rome, travel

posted by Richard at 11:29 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Star Trek review

*** SPOILERAMA ***

For those of you keeping track, this is Star Trek 11.

The Plot

The fundamental core of the plot makes no sense whatsoever.

What is the problem exactly

So first off, it's not clear what the underlying problem is. A sun is... going supernova? The Romulan sun? Err, you might want to all leave then, not much you can do about that. But a sun going supernova doesn't expand, it just goes boom. You're going to what, "absorb the energy" with red matter?

So why don't all the Romulans use their fleet and get everyone the hell out of there?
Why is Ambassador Spock flying the "fastest ship in the Federation"?

In this universe, are there still Romulus and Remus?

Not Enough Time?

Ok so this guy is sitting around in his giant mining ship near his home planet, for some reason, not helping anyone, and bam! Spock appears and bam! the planet is destroyed and bam! they travel through time and...

and then he IMMEDIATELY attacks a Federation ship?
So your planet is destroyed and you're somewhere else and your first thought is - hey, let's attack the nearest thing.

And your mining ship has tons of missiles that can lock on ships, ready to fire?

And he knows Spock was on the ship? And he expected Spock to do what exactly? Fly faster? Shoot the red matter better? What?

So your planet has JUST been destroyed, you destroy a Federation ship for no clear reason, and then, having travelled back in time (which means your entire beloved planet IS STILL INTACT AND YOU HAVE THE MOST ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY IN THE QUADRANT) you... sit in space and wait for 25 years for Spock's ship? Err, what?

So everyone on the entire mining ship is like, hey, our planet was destroyed but now we have it back, but we're so ?angry? that we are going to SIT FOR 25 YEARS IN SPACE and wait for a ship to appear.

So at no point did it occur to anyone... err hey, why don't we all go tell our families that their sun is going to explode, so they might want to relocate to a less killy planet. And oh by the way if we're feeling all vengeful (for some reason) we could use our future technology to make the Romulan Empire far more powerful than any other in the quadrant.

Ok so, they capture Spock and then drop him on... a moon I guess? Called Delta Vega 4 or something? Which has a very good view of Vulcan becoming a black hole? Like a VERY good view... so close you'd think it might be affected by the planet you know, imploding.

So the Vulcans who have lots of spaceships and technology, they just sit there while an alien ship drills a hole into their planet? Considering the amazing drilling platform was overwhelmed by TWO GUYS from Starfleet, the Vulcans couldn't have sent what, a flying scooter to crash into it? They have ZERO planetary defence? They have ZERO ships in orbit? They have ZERO ships on the surface? What?

Ok, so the Enterprise arrives into a sea of destroyed ships and no one is like, hmm, it's kind of a shame that ALL OF OUR FRIENDS FROM THE ACADEMY ARE DEAD. No one is like, hey maybe we should see if there are any escape pods?

And when Kirk finds out this is the guy who killed his father, he has no emotional response?

And when THE ENTIRE PLANET VULCAN implodes, everyone is like, oh my, what a great pity?

And then EARTH has no defences? STARFLEET ACADEMY doesn't have a single thing it can send against a mining platform in the sky RIGHT NEXT TO IT?

All is Darkness

So their awesome solution to destroying the Romulan ship is to turn it into a black hole? But wait a second, wasn't it JUST RIGHT NEXT TO EARTH? So now you've got a black hole, at a minimum, in the Sol system, and most likely, very near to Earth. Awesome. Brilliant plan.

No Sense of Wonder

One of the great things about the classic opening is the sense that, OMG, we're in space, isn't this cool and amazing. In this movie, these people could be anywhere. They're not excited to be in space. They're not excited to see the ship. Mostly the run or walk in corridors a lot, they could be in some building somewhere for all the difference it makes.


Very Bad Science Fiction

The whole thing is very very bad science fiction. Time travel, black holes, red matter, imploding planets - garbage.

Very Bad Drama

It is also very bad human drama and plotting. It makes no sense. Almost none of the human emotions map to any normal reactions.

Yes, they blew up Alderan in Star Wars, but that was decades ago. If you want to see what a modern reaction would be, even the crummy Enterprise series had a reasonable sense of what a reaction to an attack of this magnitude would be, and of course BSG had an actually thoughtful take on what this would mean for the survivors.

I know it's all part of the dramatic reboot: kaboom, look at me, I changed the timeline, kaboom, look at me, I blew up Vulcan. But it's going a bit far.

In particular, since the Vulcans were the core founding members of the federation, this will alter dramatically its evolution.

The Transfer of Command

So Spock has to relinquish command because he is emotionally compromised by the death of his mother (oh and incidentally the destruction of his entire planet), but Kirk is fine despite the exact same guy killed his father?

Plus which this "emotionally compromised" language is ridiculous. ALL Captains are emotionally compromised. There is perfectly good canon language and ship's practice to remove command: insanity or severe illness are the main ones. "No longer mentally fit" etc.

Plus which at a minimum Kirk and Spock should be under courtmartial for assaulting each other and other members of the crew.

The Role of Women

In a remarkably retro move, which I hope doesn't indicate the current state of our society, women have basically no active role to play in this version of Star Trek. Their permitted roles are to be a helpless mother giving birth, to be a basically non-present mother with at most a couple lines, and to be sex objects, green or black or otherwise.

Head of Vulcan council is man, head of Star Fleet review board is man, security guards are men, all men all the time.

Uhura's entire role consists of being an object of Kirk's attention, being Spock's lover, and one time saying "I know Romulan but they're not saying anything so that doesn't help". I don't think she so much as pushes a single button in the entire movie.

This is completely anti the Roddenberry ethos. He was operating within huge constraints in the 60s, but he still managed to have women as scientists, ship captains, ambassadors... women in many different roles.

If he was doing Trek today, not only would he have women in all different roles (which is so normal today as to not even merit mention normally), including many command and action roles, but he would have a lot more diversity (instead of the usual "mostly white men plus some token colour / aliens") and at least one gay character.

The characters themselves

For some reason, they're all genuises except Sulu and McCoy.
Uhura - language genius (a la Enterprise Hoshi)
Kirk - unspecified genius
Spock - always a genius
Chekov - some kinda gravitational something genius
Scotty - general engineering / science genius

The general scope of McCoy's character is done well - one of the points you never really see in the series is he is much older than Kirk. But he doesn't actually do anything in the entire movie other than make Kirk sick. And say "I'm a doctor, not a X" a lot.

The only characters that get much development or actually do much of anything are Kirk and Spock.

That being said, as characters (physically and "presence" wise), they're all pretty good. Kirk and Spock are strong, McCoy and Chekov are the right ages, Sulu is fine. Uhura appears fine, kind of hard to tell since she had nothing to do. Scotty is much younger than he should be, but whatever.

The Academy

I thought the entire thing was going to be set at the Academy. Other than a few shots, what I thought would be the entire movie is skipped with "3 years later".

Captain Kirk

So the promotion path is: show up on a ship you're not allowed on, get arbitrarily immediately made First Officer, and then have your Captain in a wheelchair and become Captain. What is this, Klingon promotion? He's on ONE MISSION and he's Captain? Are you kidding me?

Galaxy Quest

Both the red matter and the ridiculous design of the mining ship were dangeously close to Galaxy Quest territory.

Star Wars and Banzai

Both the planet blowing up and the pointless alien companion for Scotty (Jar Jar Binkstar?) are rather close similarities to Star Wars.

The interrogation scene is oddly reminiscent of the interrogation in Buckaroo Banzai, right down to the unexplained water flooding the floor. (As a side note, their mining ship stocks mind-control bugs? How convenient.)

The Con

Basically the entire movie is just to set up Kirk in the Captain's chair, Spock as his first officer, Sulu and Chekov at the console, Uhura as the Space Secretary, Scotty as the engineer and McCoy as the gruff doctor. In an alternative trekverse.

They could have just started with that and done, you know, an actual movie.

The Alternative Universe

This is a rather convenient canon dodge. Why is X different? Oh yeah, Alternate Universe. In case you're keeping track, some highlights:

* Vulcan gone
* two Spocks
* Spock's mother dead
* Kirk's father dead (we never heard of in original series)
* Uhura Spock's lover
* Romulans look different
* They know way more about Romulans and Klingons than they did in original series

Faster Spacecat! Faster!

In keeping with our fast-paced modern times, it's much faster and more dynamic - the ships move faster, the people move faster. Which is entertaining for a blockbuster, but I don't know how sustainable it would be in a series.

Overall Ratings

3/10 as science fiction
6/10 as drama
8/10 as summer fluff

So basically what you would expect if you take a series that had some threads of science fiction, ideas, and character interaction, and make it a Summer Blockbuster.

In Conclusion

Abrams set out to make a dynamic movie about Kirk and Spock, and in that he succeeded. He also set out to re-cast the characters and put them all on the bridge, and he got there in the end. In any other aspect, the movie fails.


Reviews I Liked

* Roger Ebert
* IGN
* Huffington Post

The List

I think I have this in my blog already, but I couldn't find it quickly, so:

Star Trek 1: terrible. slowest. movie. ever. opening scene shows empty space for like 5 minutes. seriously.
Star Trek 2 (Khan): everyone likes this a lot. I think it's ok.
Star Trek 3 (Spock): also ok although I didn't like that they changed Saavik
Star Trek 4 (Earth): good
Star Trek 5 (god): terrible
Star Trek 6 (Klingons): not good. too many US references ("Nixon goes to China")
Star Trek 7 (Generations): I liked this a lot. almost perfect if they had just fixed up the themes a bit and given Kirk a better death
Star Trek 8 (Borg): also good except Data should have said "Resistance is NOT futile" and also Zephram Cochrane sucked
Star Trek 9 (umm, the one with the facepeeling guys): terrible
Star Trek 10 (Romulans and Picard clone who looks nothing like Picard): terrible
Star Trek 11 (reboot): acceptable as fluff but bad drama and terrible science fiction

Labels: movie, review, Star Trek

posted by Richard at 10:02 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Pirates of the Caribbean 3 sucks

I liked the first one (IMDB gives it an 8) and I even somewhat enjoyed the second one (which my friends thought sucked),

but At World's End is utter garbage

incomprehensible plot

$300 million dollars

Can you think all the things you can do with $300,000,000?

Instead:
not funny
not entertaining
total junk
and it goes on and on and on (2.5 hours)

(and they give away the ending and talk about scenes that I don't think happened in the liner notes)

Labels: movie, review

posted by Richard at 16:34 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Hotel St. James New York reviewed

I submitted this review of

Hotel St. James
109 West 45th Street, New York City, NY 10036


View Larger Map

to TripAdvisor.com but it's currently "pending" (possibly because I just created an account and it's my first review). I'm not entirely sure of the room number we were in so I've modified that section.

I will also be submitting this review to Expedia.ca and maybe to Google Maps.

Review - "room was problematic"
** 2 stars (out of 5)

Pros: The location is good, the lobby is nice, there is a comfortable lounge, and the staff were helpful for the minimal interaction I had with them. The room itself was about the size I expected for midtown New York, and clean, with a bathtub.

CONS: I was in a second floor room (#204?), facing 45th Street.

1. There was basically zero sound insulation - there was almost no difference in the noise level with the window open or closed. There was loud street noise all night long. Trucks idling, beeping as they backed up, construction noise, you name it.

2. The heat was set fairly high and there was no thermostat that I could find, so the room was excessively warm.

3. The hot water in the bathroom is temperature limited, at best it got lukewarm.

If you have trouble sleeping, I wouldn't recommend this hotel, at least not if you get a street-facing room.

Labels: hotel, review

posted by Richard at 12:02 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Dark Knight IMAX

I'm just back from Dark Knight IMAX.
First things first: go early. I thought I was golden going at 2:30 for the 3:30 show and when I got to the ticket checker just in front of the regular entrance to theatre 8 (IMAX) at Silver City, she told me the line was outside (as in, outside the building) - I went outside (the opposite site from the main entrance) and discovered a lineup of at least 100 - 150 people.

You can get tickets online at cineplex.com with no service charge, I don't think you have to exchange your printout or anything, you can print scannable tickets at home (I saw people getting in with printouts anyway, although online it says "Please remember that you will need to present your printed ticket at any automated ticketing kiosk or the box office, in order to retrieve your tickets.")

The movie itself is good, definitely not for kids.
I found it drifted a bit in the middle (it's 2.5 hours long) but it ended strongly, which is an improvement over most movies.

I was pretty sceptical of this whole Heath Ledger Joker thing but he really does a great job of playing a terrifying psycho, and he has good plot and dialogue material to work with.

Whatshername scientologist woman isn't Rachael anymore, it's some other woman.

Definitely worth seeing, and it was cool in IMAX.

Photos of lineup to follow.

UPDATE 2008-07-28: The lineup

Labels: movie, review

posted by Richard at 18:36 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Bourne 1 & 2

Bourne Identity is very good. I particularly like the scenes in Paris, they really use the city well, plus which I was also on top of La Samaritaine, just like Bourne.

Me



Bourne



I think it's closed now.

I also liked that they closed the story off at the end of Bourne Identity.

Bourne Supremacy was good for about the first 3/4 and then it started to fall apart.
The car chase was way too long and not particularly interesting.
I did like seeing Berlin though, I want to go to Berlin.

They were both iTunes movie rentals, no problems, although unfortunately they are both wider than 16:9, so even on my widescreen LCD TV I only got a strip in the middle. Probably would have been better on the projector, I'm going to try movies from the laptop to the projector next.

Labels: movie, review

posted by Richard at 20:33 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

The Big Bang Theory Season 1

Just finished the season (17 episodes).
I love this show so much.

In episode 16, where Sheldon goes to the computer store to buy a gift for Leonard and is comparing 802.11n wireless routers



and then he ends up advising all the other shoppers on what to buy...

this happens to me when I'm buying computer stuff in Staples.
Honest to god.

My friend even thought up a name for it, I can't remember what it was exactly, something like microsales or nanosales.

Labels: review, tbbt, television, the big bang theory

posted by Richard at 20:22 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Galactica 4x10

That was about as good a mid-climax to this madness as was possible.
Kara's magic Viper, it was obvious it was going to have the info in its nav, but it was as good a way as any to have the final 4 lead the way to Earth without knowing the way themselves.

Kara running through the ship was ridiculous though.
What, she couldn't have picked up a phone?

Also the Admiral's meltdown was a bit over the top.

We seem to have ended up at some variant of my scenario from my posting Kara's Destiny from April: "Alternate Galactica-universe Earth. Earth is already centuries or millenia into the recovery after a total apocalypse."

Well, the total apocalypse part anyway.

As you may have noticed, only FOUR heard the radio call... Deanna said only four were in the fleet... because

TWELVE CYLON MODELS
SEVEN ARE KNOWN
FOUR LIVED IN SECRET
ONE WILL BE REVEALED

ZAK ADAMA IS A CYLON

It's pretty clear that someone is orchestrating human-Cylon peace.

The final Cylon and the Plan remain to be revealed.

In case you haven't heard, the final chapter, starting with episode 11, probably won't start unrolling until January 2009.

And yes I was wrong about President's aide and Tigh. I still don't see how Tigh can be a Cylon.

Labels: battlestar galactica, review, television

posted by Richard at 23:00 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Galactica 4x09

Now that was a good episode.

Labels: battlestar galactica, review, television

posted by Richard at 23:01 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Galactica 4x07, 4x08

Hmm.

They are in a tough place, trying to wrap up a story that is ending on more metaphysics than hard SF. Galostica.

Some lameness with the red shirt girl - look it's a Raptor with Athena, Sam, Starbuck, and... woman you've never seen before. Any bets on how long she lives... yeah, about 10 minutes.

Everyone is losing it.
Cylons killing Cylons, Cylon babies, plus everyone is the throes of various delusions.

Just check it out, people having delusions, visions, prophecies or otherwise deranged:
- XO Tigh
- Starbuck
- Six
- Athena
- Leoben
- Hybrid
- President Roslyn
- Hera
- Kira Nerys (the dying woman - ok technically Nana Visitor) - yeah it took me almost the entire episode to parse out her identity - I was like... hmm... she seems familiar... that voice...
- Baltar

All of 4x08 seemed lame, particularly the badly written and cat-heavy subplot about President Adama.

It seems like they're trying to position everyone in the right places for cool stuff to happen, but they don't quite know how to get them all there.

Jump!

Labels: battlestar galactica, review, television

posted by Richard at 10:41 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Galactica 4x06

I told you they were just basestars.

So Deanna (3) is going to tell them about the Final Five... who are going to give you the home of the 13th.

Direct transcription:

Thus will it come to pass.

A dying leader will know the truth of the Opera House.

The missing 3 will give you the 5
who have come from the home of the 13th.

You are the harbinger of death Kara Thrace.
You will lead them all to their end.

END OF LINE

We are to assume that it's the President who is going to know the truth,
but it could be anyone in a leadership position.

UPDATE: Also I don't see why "the missing 3" couldn't be either of
- the three "secret Galactica Cylons" who aren't in attendance: Galen, Tigh and President's Aide girl
- the three warring Cylons: Cavil, Simon and Aaron
ENDUPDATE

Now, the home of the 13th.
12 tribes.
12 Cylon models.
Hmm.

Presumably the easy interpretation, as provided by Six, is "home of the 13th" = Earth.

A rather improbable alternative is it is the home base / home planet of the 13th Cylon, the Cylon Creator, the Architect.

Most likely scenario is as described in my April 28, 2008 posting on Zak Adama is a Cylon

The more perfect union theory is something like: the first five Cylons have a plan to rebuild an integrated, peaceful society from the ashes of the split societies, unifying man and machine. They possibly went ahead to Earth, just in the last 50 years or so, stopping at the Temple of Jupiter along the way to rejigger it to reveal the Final Five, taking advantage of the existing mythology.

Zak Adama is a Cylon - who is the puppet master?

The only added element is that possibly they are all already dead, and in purgatory, making their way to Earth / Heaven / Judgment Day.

Kara is in this scenario leading them to their end, to their final judgment.
What comes after the end? The afterlife.

This is the idea that when people die suddenly and unexpectedly, they don't quite know they're dead, they continue playing out their lives until they resolve major issues and realise they're actually already gone.

Purgatory has been popular lately, being both a first-season scenario for Lost, and a scenario for Life on Mars.

Most likely however is that the 13th tribe Earth is, as mentioned before, "one big happy Cylon-Human-Jebus holy trinity" and Kara is leading the human race to its end as a unique, dominant species.

Zak Adama as a Cylon awaiting Starbuck on Earth/Afterlife fits in perfectly with either scenario.

As a sidebar, with the Boomers marching their way to Death's Door, almost ALL television is about death now, whether it's fantasies of being rescued from any possible disease (House) or fantasies of justice after death (CSI).

Labels: battlestar galactica, review, television

posted by Richard at 06:22 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Galactica 4x05

About what I expected. There's only so long the Demetrius storyline can be drawn out.

It's all going to end in one big happy Cylon-Human-Jebus holy trinity.

I knew they were going to start bringing in the Hybrid angle even more.
The Hybrids are God's Prophets. It's possible they've been the ones running the entire show.

I think the artists have done a good job driving the screencap people crazy.
I'm sure there will be lots more from this ep.

Anyway, I don't buy this "Kara's painting Ships of Light" thing.
I think they're supposed to be three stylized stars. Unless what she thought were stars were actually three ships. I saw three ships come sailing in...

At most they look like white Basestars.
Maybe the Good Cylons drive white Basestars?

PS Zak Adama is a Cylon

Labels: battlestar galactica, review, television

posted by Richard at 00:43 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Galactica 4x04

Just as I feared, the entire season is going to be mysticism.
Mysticism, with occasional bursts of brutality and and overlay of madness.

UPDATE: Oh oh and did you see that crash? They come out of that without a scratch? The entire front section of the ship was crushed. Are you kidding me?

PS Zak Adama is a Cylon

Labels: battlestar galactica, review, television

posted by Richard at 23:05 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

BG 4x03

Not bad.
Room 1701D? Cheesy.

Sidebar: I watched the TNG where a bunch of people get turned into kids. You know who is better at running the ship and acting than the actual actors? The kids. I don't recall seeing it before.

Plus which, you're running a stealth mission, and you send EVERY SINGLE SENIOR VIPER PERSON?

Galen Gata or however you spell his name
Helo Athena Sam complainy-girl

Yeah, no one will notice that.

Plus which, I can sort of endure real-timing it
except for the spoilers

The TV ads for cars is fine, they can blow their useless money all they want, I'm never buying one.

But What The F*ck is with showing me scenes from the show, before the show?
And scenes from the next show, after the show?
The pre-sceners are going to be the first against the wall.

It's ok inside the show, I know when spoilervision starts and ends in the opening credits, I just close my eyes. But at 10PM, right before the show?

WOULD YOU PEOPLE FUCK OFF WITH THE SPOILERS RIGHT BEFORE THE FUCKING SHOW STARTS?

Seriously.
You wonder why I never watch your tele-opticon with its ad-vertisements?
The spoilers are one big reason. The ads, honestly, I can just ignore. They never show anything there's any chance in hell I'll ever buy anyway.

Labels: battlestar galactica, review, television

posted by Richard at 22:59 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

BG 4x02

Hmm.

Well, on the plus side they did resolve my concern, which involved me yelling "just send her in a f-cking raptor" at the screen repeatedly.

On the minus side, Lee gets a new job and they spend half the episode on it?
WTF? Is it a new job in another universe? Farewell Dualla? ???

Plus which the Cylon fighter sentience is controlled by a DONGLE?
DRM for consciousness?

Wasn't there a terrible science fiction show about people flying a garbage scow?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_%28TV_series%29

So now it's Quark II: The Voyage of Starbuck?
(How's that for retro scifi references?)

PS Zak Adama is a Cylon.

Labels: battlestar galactica, review, television

posted by Richard at 18:51 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

BSG 4x1

Oh dear.
Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

Some human-cylon one-god-pantheism-polytheism Lords of Kobol stuff lies in our future, methinks.

When is Dr. Zee going to show up, that's what I want to know
(unless Hera is Dr. Zee)

You can see some info both Reimagined religion

Oracular musings on Battlestar - March 13, 2007

and freaky god-beings, rockin' it old style
(hmm, I thought I had written about this, will have to search some more, but in the meantime)

The canonical set of classic Galactica glowy god-being episodes is

Galactica 1978 - 15 & 16 - War of the Gods

Galactica 1980 - 1x10 - The Return of Starbuck (the final episode of the old series)

Interesting geek sidebar: Buck Rogers also had glowy time lord guardians of forever people and a box full of Time. (Which I also thought I had written about, but I also can't find.)

Labels: battlestar galactica, review, television

posted by Richard at 08:53 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)