Month: August 2007

Metacritic condenses the reviews to an 85, quite high. I found The Bourne Ultimatum to be a worthy continuation of the character, but it’s not the best of the three (as many were saying).

A few notes…

First, the “edgy” camera techniques every time Bourne sprung into action spun me around a bit too often. I wanted to shout at someone occasionally “Just hold the damn camera steady!” If the technique intruded that much, they went too far. Appreciation was shaken into exhaustion.

Second, the female agent Nicky Parsons has the least vocal role imaginable in a thriller. The meaningful silence schtick? Carried way too far.

Third, the vicarious travel put James Bond and Harrison Ford movies to shame. Jumping from Moscow to Turin to Paris to London to New York to Madrid to Tangiers and then New York and probably a few spots I’m forgetting along the way = fun.

Fourth, the New York City car chase was nothing special, but the rooftop and alley ballet in Tangiers and the directed almost-escape from Waterloo Station in London captured full attention. The wife’s comment about the Waterloo scene? “My cell phone headset doesn’t stay in place that well, and I’m just driving a car.”

Fifth, the first Bourne book was the first Robert Ludlum I ever read, as a pre-teen, so it’s imprinted fairly well in my memory. The third book, though… can’t say that I remember it well enough to know just how far the movie Bourne has strayed from the printed page. I was impressed with the first film’s fidelity to the tenor of the book, despite obvious required liberties with the story. By now, I’m just watching the movie — which is a good thing.

I am not plugged in enough to know, but I can’t believe this is the last Bourne movie we’ll see.

I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix a fortnight ago because I knew enough to wait for the wife for the third Bourne movie.

I haven’t read all the Potters (though the boy has, several times), and I can never remember which of the previous movies I’ve seen. This one was fine, but I’m not invested in them. Metacritic weighs in with a combined 71: makes sense to me.

One side note: despite a comment from my friend Sean to the theater owners during the early part of the film, the entire movie was shown out of focus. I might not have noticed before, but I’m starting to pay attention — and it’s really distracting once you do. Ignorance is bliss!

Earlier this month, after an East Coast vacation, but before the rest of the family returned, I hunkered down for the entire 3+ hours of The Right Stuff.

Long ago, I read Chuck Yeager’s autobiography (title: “Yeager), so I enjoyed the almost-parallel tale of Yeager’s pursuit of the speed & altitude records. But the Mercury space program is the focus of The Right Stuff, with an emphasis on the very human teamwork and rivalries that bound the first group of astronauts.

The movie did win Best Picture, among other Academy Awards. Three hours is still a long time. I wanted to see it, and enjoyed it…but I was ready to go bed at the end!

Not having read the book, I lack insight into the differences.

The music, though, is fun and appropriate throughout. Clair de lune by Claude Debussy is played as a tune of reflection and celebration near the end. I was instantly returned to the end of Ocean’s Eleven, with the Bellagio’s fountains soaring. Yes, I have the reference backwards, chronologically…but that’s the order in which I saw the films. You can listen/see the music for yourself in many, many versions on YouTube, including this one.

Thanks to a recommendation from my friends at CNET Networks, I found out about BikeParking.com. Great selection of bicycle racks for offices, garages and other commercial spaces. No online ordering, and the price sheet is on a PDF, but clear pictures, descriptions, and suggestions for different situations. I’m grateful that Minor Ventures is making an attractive workspace even more friendly by adding some secure bike storage. If you have the opportunity to add bike storage to a commercial space (or a large private space), check BikeParking.com. I don’t know how far afield, geographically, they work… but a great choice in bike-friendly San Francisco.

Maybe I’m too old, but watching Napoleon Dynamite, I could only be grateful it was short. Metacritic score of 64 is far above my personal rating.

I’ve read Robert Heinlein many times before, but never one of his most famous novels, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.”

Published in 1966, the first-person story walks us through the revolt of a colony on the moon against the earth. The colony was founded as a prison, like Australia’s origins. Right away, the dialect hits you as different, and then we have a computer “waking up” and first supporting and then helping orchestrate revolution… to the point of bombing Earth from above.

Very human point of view, but definitively different point of view throughout. The computer gets named, and loved, and missed. The protagonist, Manny, is abstracted, and addressed by the ever-more-human computer as “Man.” Hardly accidental, and Manny is an amputee, with an array of specialized left arms to carry out different tasks. Both are “heroes” of the story, but their souls are not so different.

Now I’m back in a non-fiction book, but fun read.

The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman was a hoot. The accompanying blog shows the spirit of the humor. If you’ve seen Hodgman on The Daily Show, then the voice and wry straight-man tone are even more fun. This is short, which is fine, since it’s a bit repetitive after a while.