Monthly Archives: May 2003

Saturday, 24 May 2003

Matrix

So we saw Matrix 2 today. I'm not quite sure what to think of it. Maybe I expected a little too much, I don't know. The action scenes were of course great. Even though I did not like the artificial bullet time they used sometimes (like in the "Neo vs. 100 Agent Smiths" scene). I wouldn't have minded the fake faces on the Smiths but that even Neo was computer generated from time to time really sucked. It just didn't look convincing. Also some of the scenes where a little too drawn out (like the sex/dance scene and even the Neo vs. the Smiths one) and just when the movie began to get really intense and interesting: to be continued...

Of course I realized that there would be some kind of cliffhanger but I did expect to at least have some kind of semi-ending. But maybe after we've seen the third one everything will be clear. Generally it felt like the movie raised more questions than it answered. Naturally the second part of a trilogy is always tough to do because it is so, well, inbetween things. It's the part after the grand opening and before the grand ending. It's the part where they explain things that haven't been explained before and that has some character and story development.

That it did quite well, IMO. I liked that we got to see Zion and even parts of the inner workings of the city. But I thought that the whole spirituality thing was a little overdone. But maybe that's just me.

There were a lot of things I did not understand. The whole architect/oracle/keymaker thing for example. Looks like the Oracle lied all the time and was just a means to get Neo to do the thing he was meant to do: destroy and then rebuild Zion to keep the Matrix alive. Okay. But what about Agent Smith? How does he fit into the picture now? He states that he is free now. But to me it still looks like he is trying hard to keep the Matrix alive by killing Neo. Hm, or maybe he wants to kill Neo so he cannot help destroy and rebuild Zion? That would, if I understand the architect's speech correctly, result evidently in the destruction of the Matrix because the future "anomalies" (i.e. the future "Ones") cannot be controlled anymore. Hmm. And then what about the French guy and the freaky twins. Were they also just agents sent by the architect that helped keep Neo on track? Or were they rogue programs?

I see there is a lot of philosophizing to be done about this film. Oh, I just remembered a thing that I really, really liked. All the metaphors they used for computer terms like backdoors and keymaker. That was so good. Okay, maybe it's just me geeking out here but I really liked how they realized this. It reminded you again that the Matrix is after all just a computer program.

And what about this Neo stopping the machines shit in the end? Is Zion after all just a second Matrix to fool the people who cannot believe in the first Matrix?

These were my random thoughts on Matrix 2. I think I will watch it again in a week or two when everything has settled down in my mind a bit. Maybe then I can see and understand more.

Btw, I like the interpretation in this transcript of the architect's speech (found by my friend Jesse) that the reactions of the Neos on the monitors are in fact the reactions of the other Ones that came before Neo.

[Archive Link]  Posted by Edda at 04:00 CET  |  [Comments Link]  4 comments

Thursday, 22 May 2003

There is no parking

We had originally intended to go to the Matrix 2 preview yesterday evening. But when we were there to buy tickets they only had seats in the front row. I don't mind sitting close to the screen but the front row especially at their biggest screen isn't all that enjoyable. Granted, we should have taken care of the tickets before Tuesday but we just didn't get around to it (since you have to go there in person to buy tickets for special events like this).

Anyway, now we're going tomorrow night. Which is a good thing too because now one of our friends who couldn't go on Wednesday can join us. So yesterday Mikey and I decided to go to the sneak preview (surprise movie). We almost didn't make it because we spent 20 minutes looking for parking. Aparently all the people who were there for the Matrix preview (on 4 screens in two different movie theaters which are only like 300 meters apart from each other) had gotten there by car.

So it was extremely hard to find parking. Even our "secret spot" that usually has a space for us was completely crowded. But we did make it and missed most of the comercials (which really is a good thing). They showed Old School which is quite good for a film of its type.

[Archive Link]  Posted by Edda at 19:55 CET  |  [Comments Link]  0 comments

Monday, 19 May 2003

Pixel Art

movingraupe.gif

I was inspired yesterday by some pixel art I saw on the net yesterday so I created my very first gif animation. I kinda like it even though the animation isn’t all that smooth…

[Archive Link]  Posted by Edda at 17:11 CET  |  [Comments Link]  5 comments

Sunday, 18 May 2003

Woah

This evening we finally showed our friends our photos from our stay in San Francisco. Our friend Stefan brought a video projector from work so we could watch them in a nice resolution. Later we watched a movie with that thing. It was great. I want one of these! It's so much cooler than watching stuff on a TV. I added it to my list of things I will buy once I start earning money (it'll probably take me years to go through the whole list)...

[Archive Link]  Posted by Edda at 02:53 CET  |  [Comments Link]  0 comments

Wednesday, 14 May 2003

Check

I saw a doctor here about my arm today and he was totally astonished by how well it has healed. Apparently a complicated fracture like this usually causes more problems. He said I should be happy even if a slight limitation in the freedom of movement of my wrist remains. So I guess I'm happy. Even though I still hope that I'll be able to move it as well as it was before. I bought a thing I can use to train the muscles in my hand and wrist and try to stretch it in all directions every day in hopes of making it more flexible this way. We'll see how that works.

The doctor is a very nice guy and there are comfy couches (!!) and very good magazines in his waiting room and very nice paintings on the wall. Nice :)

[Archive Link]  Posted by Edda at 00:57 CET  |  [Comments Link]  0 comments

Monday, 12 May 2003

Equilibrium

We just watched Equilibrium and noticed that one scene was shot in a subway station in Berlin. Later we found out that a big part of the movie was filmed here. It is quite ironic since it doesn't look like this movie will ever be released here. Sigh. I wish I could see it in a movie theater. I bet those action scenes look great on the big screen. The film is quite amazing for such a low budget production. And I love the gun kata.

[Archive Link]  Posted by Edda at 02:05 CET  |  [Comments Link]  0 comments

Saturday, 10 May 2003

Yum!

Mikey and I invented a recipe for Chicken Quesadillas yesterday and OMG were they good (if I do say so myself). Yum. I just hope we'll be able to reproduce the same taste next time we'll make them.

We also saw City of God, a film about the events in a slum in Rio de Janeiro over the course of maybe 10-20 years. It's apparently based on real people and events. It's very good but also quite disturbing. Very recommendable.

My "mom" sent me a pear in Animal Crossing the other day. So I planted it and now I hope the little sappling will grow. For some reason some trees just don't grow and die a day or two later. I have no idea why. So I chopped down a tree and planted the pear in its place in hopes that this is a good spot to grow. I've also been trying to get a golden shovel for a while now. But all the shovel trees I've planted have died *shrug*

[Archive Link]  Posted by Edda at 19:21 CET  |  [Comments Link]  3 comments

Friday, 2 May 2003

Busy, busy

We have been back in Berlin since Sunday night. On Monday we started unpacking our stuff and managed to unpack most of it. But then we found the games I bought in San Francisco (namely "Zelda: The Wind Waker" and "Animal Crossing" for the Game Cube) we stopped unpacking and started playing, first Animal Crossing and then Zelda. Both games are highly addicting and definitely the best GC games I own now.

We also started job hunting. The situation isn't exactly great at the moment but I'm still confident that we'll find something. All companies seem to look for at the moment are SAP Developers. Sigh. But we found one offering for a Java Developer at a nice middle sized company that sounds pretty cool. Now Mikey and I are preparing our application documents and hope they have more than one opening.

But back to Animal Crossing. It is really unfortunate that the game does not support internet play. As it has not been released in Europe the only people I know who play it live in the United States. Now Mikey and I live in the same town. So unless we create a second town ourselves we'll probably never get to travel. I'm also wondering how we should ever get a fruit that is different from our local fruit (apples). One of my villagers keeps asking me for cherries. But how the hell am I supposed to get some? Or do the saplings you can buy from Tom Nook sometimes turn out to be different fruit trees? Anyway, it's astonishing how much fun a game can be where you do nothing except lead your life in a town full of animals...

Zelda is just great. It's such a perfectly designed game. I also love the cell shading. It looks so great when you see it in action. And then there's the little details like moths following you around when you walk through a dungeon with a torch in your hand. The only thing that sometimes bothers me is the camera. Sometimes I feel like I don't see enough of my surroundings. Especially being able to look up or down would come in quite handy from time to time... But this doesn't keep me from playing the game. In fact those two games are the first in (what seems like) ages that have a totally addicting effect on me.

Anyway, I just watched Mikey play Animal Crossing and discoverd a bug that I have not yet caught. So I'll go see if I can catch the little sucker now.

[Archive Link]  Posted by Edda at 19:59 CET  |  [Comments Link]  2 comments

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