Kaffeenated

The Da Vinci Code

Well, the movie is out on DVD now... for whatever that's worth. This is one where I have to seriously recommend the book. The story and subject matter here are probably a little too deep and a little too cerebral to be adequately dealt with in a Ron Howard film (sorry Ron).

There just wasn't anything terribly compelling or tense in this rather pedestrian adaptation. Tom Hanks gives a surprisingly lackluster performance as Langdon. Jean Reno was completely wasted in the throw-away role of Bezu Fache. Props to Ian McKellan as the only one who brought some intensity to the screen.

Save yourself the rental fee, put the $5 towards buying the paperback.

Labels: Da Vinci Code, movie review

Slither is Cool

While it's billed as a blend of heart-stopping terror and humor, the humor is what really stands out in this excellent film. The whole cast does a great job, with stand out performances being turned in by Michael Rooker as the "squid" and Chief of police Nathan Fillion delivering some terrific one-liners. The plot is, of course, nothing terribly new (The Blob, Independence Day, Starship Troopers even have all used the "alien locust" story to some extent), but the grotesque effects and great delivery are what make this a good movie. The fight with the zombie deer doesn't hurt, either.

I can't recommend Slither as a scary movie. And really, I have to chuckle a bit at the web site declaring it will change the face of horror. It certainly is a FUN movie, though, and well worth watching.

A Comment on World of Warcaft

So, if you're like me and 6,999,998 other people, you play WoW. My
account is actually on hold right now until The Burning Crusade comes
out - I dislike raids and got tired of doing the same 5-man stuff
umpteen times. Over the past couple of months, I've had the opportunity
to try both Guild Wars and City of Villains. By and large, I think WoW
stomps both of these in terms of gameplay, variety. polish, etc. But
the one thing that both GW and CoV pwn WoW in is healing.

WoW emphasizes group play, which is great - it creates a cool social
dynamic and adds a lot of depth to the experience (yes, of course it
has it's downside, too). However, the single most frustrating aspect of
group play, imho anyway, is the way that healing is handled. Healing
isn't fun and, while this is based purely on anecdotal evidence and my
own experience, most people would prefer NOT to play a healing class.
If that's the case, then why on earth does Blizzard continue with the
existing healing mechanics?

Both GW and CoV have self-heal mechanics in place. CoV does it
particularly well - every class has a self-heal spell, and healing
consumables are not on any cooldown or timer. When the boss hits you
for 500, you can pop inspires as fast as you can mash the hot key. That
said, classes exist in CoV that can spec primarily into healing, and if
you happen to have one of those folks along you can tell the difference
- things go much more smoothly. But my point is that you don't NEED a
healer in order to play the game and accomplish anything beyond solo
farming.

I doubt the healing mechanics will ever change in WoW since it might
negatively impact the end-all, be-all raid game. But it sure would be
nice for everyone if they'd make focused healing less essential in the
overall game mechanics.

In honor of Borat...

I recently received a wonderful little morsel of Spam, that I just felt like I had to share:

"For the protection of your personal assets and information, our company is installing the most protected security system from all systems that available for banking solutions in anti-fraud sphere. Our experts regularly screen each transaction for suspect activity. Recently we located entries to your account from different computers and password picking up activity. Now it is extremely necessary for you to confirm your personal data registered at your account. If this security procedure will not be completed in 48 hours, we will suspend your account indefinitely to prevent fraud transactions from your account. We appreciate you attention to security measures and your sincere cooperation. For the confirmation of your identity and account ownership, we may require some specific information from you.

Thank you for your attention to security measures and please be kindly noted that your assistance can truly help us to protect your account and prevent fraud transactions. We apologize for any inconveniences."

Doesn't that just bring a smile to your heart and a chuckle to your belly?

Rating Community Web Content or "Look How Cool I Am!"

So hopefully everyone has noticed the trend in user-contributed web content, right? YouTube and Google Video being the big ones. I was struck recently by the harsh tone people take in adding their comments and reviews on these sites. It begs the question - what's the point? Is it to see who can be coolest by being cruelest? Anonymity provides a nice shield for immature idiots to vent, but surely that can't be the only reason? Well... I suppose it could be.

I think Digg has it right - if you like something, you flag it. If you don't like it, just move along.

The Sentinel on DVD

I'm always tempted to call this "24: The Movie." Anywho - Michael Douglas as the Secret Service guy accused of being a mole, Keifer as the Secret Service guy after him. Pretty good idea, pretty good performances by everyone. This one falls apart on the story a little bit, though. A couple of gaping plot holes (Eva Longoria's character is one and the Secret Service guy who IS the mole being the other). First, why the heck is Eva even in this movie (obvious eye-candy reasons, but c'mon). Second, okay, the Secret Service guy made a deal with KGB 20 years ago... then he decides to walk away... then they threaten his family and he's back to being a mole. So, question... who cares about the 20 year old KGB deal? Why not just threaten his family in the first place?

No shocks or surprises in this one, but again, some good performances and entertaining to watch.

The Island

Finally saw this one, it's on regular cable now, and I'm glad I saved the money from the theater. It's not a bad movie, per se, it's just not very good. The story unfolds at a disjointed pace - it takes a long time to ramp up, all of sudden it turns into The Matrix, then it winds back down again... sorta. The characters aren't really likable, which makes it hard to identify with their plight. Right about the time the escaped clones make their getaway on a rocket-motorcycle, you'll be asking yourself "where the hell did they learn to do that?" Super-clones, I guess...

Anyway, The Island is probably worth watching vs. reruns of Three's Company, but I wouldn't go out of your way for it.

Google is the Speed Dial of the Web

I was talking with someone about web usability today and he mentioned that people are not so much using Google to search anymore, they're using it to navigate. It strikes me as being much the same as the near infinite phone number storage we've all come to expect from cell phones. We used to have to memorize phone numbers, or search for them through our personal phone books or *gasp* the paper phone book. Now, they're at our fingertips. The trade-off here is that we no longer remember them - if you don't have your cell/crackberry/pda, you're out of luck.

Web addresses appear to be moving in much the same direction. Even for familiar URL's, addresses they know, people will often start at Google. What does this mean? Well, in the short-term, if you're a web site owner, you should probably figure out how people Google your site and see where you show up in the listings. In the long-term? It probably means vanity URL's will mean even less, SEO will mean even more. It also probably means we'll all need to wear name badges - or have RFID tags implanted in our skulls so we can remember each others names...