Matrix: Constantly

I can’t remember the last time that Dad took me to see a movie. I have to admit though, that sometimes that thought sits quite nicely with me, especially when the last movie that he did take me to see was the next in the Matrix trilogy. Matrix: Constantine.

When I first saw the previews for this movie (only a week or two ago mind you) it surprised me that:

• I had not heard anything about this movie

and that

• This movie was coming out REALLY soon

Especially when most of the trailers we see down here indicate that the movie might be available in the next 12-24 months. (Read: Bubba Ho-Tep.) I guess another thing that the trailer made me think was “oh god i love rachel weisz!”

Unfortunately the grimacing began almost immediately after having dragged Sara, Dad and myself to our seats. Sara reminded me afterwards that the reason she doesn’t always rate movies too high on her list of “fun-stuff-to-do” is because they are one and a half to two hours of silently sitting next to someone in the guise of socialising. If it’s put that way it does make the whole ordeal appear fairly anti-social and I do have to admit that from the time we arrived at the cinema to the time we left I wouldn’t have said more than 15 words to Dad.

The movie itself was okay. Nothing I would recommend, only so far as it is very much a “wait for the rental” sort of flick. There were so many scenes in the movie that reminded me of the Matrix movies that by the end of the ordeal I was fairly disappointed and bored.

The redeeming features for me were definitely Peter Stormare who played an excellent Satan. I think as soon as he appeared with that grin smeared across his face I was sold. They couldn’t have found a more appropriate guy dressed in a white-suit for Satan if they tried. (Of course I was half expecting “The Architect” to pop out of a rip in the fabric of space/time and start explaining to Constantine that he was the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation…)

Furthermore, it took me about 2 or 3 days before I became aware that this movie was in fact based off a DC comic, Hellblazer. Now if only I had paid more attention earlier on, at least then my expectations would have been appropriately lowered prior to the movie. But I’m going to keep my complaining to a minimum. Dad bought the ticket, Sara provided the free chips - all in all.

It was a nice afternoon.

Posted by Christian Posted in: General, Movies No Comments » 27 February 2005

Battlestar

I haven’t really been in touch with my sci-fi/fantasy side in a long time. In fact, not really since my slobbering affair with the LOTR EE films. Even then my attachment was quite tame compared to some of my friends, who to some degree took the whole Tolkien phenomena quite far.

So it’s with a fair amount of glee that tonight I attempt to re-kindle a long-lost love-affair with sci-fi. I’m going to try and find the han-solo (or chewey) within that I’m sure used to be quite an active persona of mine but who’s been unfairly trampled and hidden in recent times.

I’m going to start watching Battlestar Galactica.

Of course the trick to this is that I’ll have to start watching it from about the 2nd episode - without having seen the mini-series - and still enjoy the show. So perhaps I’ve missed out on the best parts of the show, but that’s okay. I’m putting some faith into tv advertising. And yes, I know that I should be prepared to be bitterly disappointed OR at least kicked in the nuts, but maybe things will be different.

It’s things like this that remind me of my fairly disparate hobbies and passions - my drumming and web-geek/gamer nature is a nice example. My overwhelming physical build (_smirk_) and scary appearance compared to my very gentle nature is another.

In other geeky news I’ve been fighting with Apache 2 trying to get mod\_perl installed. When I say fighting I mean that mod\_perl has been kicking my ass and refusing to work. For the moment I’ll let it win. But when it least expects it.. \*wham\*

Posted by Christian Posted in: Computers, General 1 Comment » 23 February 2005

It’s Been 4 Months

I have to admit it’s been good tinkering and playing with wordpress over the past few hours. Even though it is nearly 3am and I’ll be getting into bed even later than Sara normally does it’s felt like a productive few hours. Already I’m thinking of a few ideas for this website to bring it back from the dead - which reminds me I need to remember to re-register the domain name for here or else the whole place will just drop off the face of the planet.

So I feel I’ve become quite comfortable with version 1.5 and am happy to say that it is a very nice release and I for one congratulate the WP team for the great effort. I’m guessing special thanks should go to Michael Heilemann for the new default WP theme. AKA: Kubrick.

I toyed with the idea that only registered users could post comments here but then I thought that comment posting alone wouldn’t ever cause me to register with anyone elses blog (except waferbaby i guess). So that feature, at least for the moment, will remain off.

But as you can see I’ve tinkered with the side bar to include links from del.icio.us and photos from flickr. Eventually I guess this place will act as a sort of amalgamation of all the different social groups I float around in. Including Livejournal, any forums, etc.

Now onto news away from here.

The last time I wrote on here was before Christmas and I must apologise for that - not that I’m expecting many (or any) people to still be reading this place. Since that time a lot certainly has happened.

• I finished my honours with first class marks
• I got a new job
• I started seeing a wonderful new girl
• I’ve been nominated for one of WAMi 2005 Best Drummers
• We’re performing for one of the WAMi 2005 shows

If it wasn’t nearly 3am I would expand - but for the moment your whistles have been wettened.

Posted by Christian Posted in: General, Web Development 2 Comments » 20 February 2005

Upgrade

So after getting this site back up i also managed to upgrade it to Wordpress 1.5.

Now even though i spent a lot of time working on my previous layout - i must admit the default theme provided with 1.5 is great - so for the moment you’ll all have to just understand.

Posted by Christian Posted in: General, Web Development 1 Comment » 19 February 2005

Back again?

I’m back - but i’m out.

So i’ll chat later.

Posted by Christian Posted in: General No Comments » 13 February 2005