Avatar

july 20 2008 23:08

I'm a big fan of cartoons. Specifically cartoons that were made before the millennium. The reason for this is because cartoons back then were 'cool'. Though perhaps it's a matter of colored glasses and the programming on tv here. Everything is resynchronized with Dutch voices. The same people at that, two guys and a woman.

One thing that annoys me about modern cartoons is that they always have children as the main characters. From a marketing point of view it makes sense as the children can be 'identified' with by the target demographic. But personally having grown-ups provides the viewers with a strong roll model to aspire to. I'm one of those geeks that looked up to Optimus Prime and the like. Modern cartoons just have bratty children that make very poor role models indeed.

But occasionally I'll notice a modern cartoon that's actually pretty well done. Avatar is one of those cartoons. It's great and compelling story. Despite having children in the lead. And even then, these children grow up as the story progresses in a natural way. The fact that they're not bratty helps a lot as well.

Recently the finale was aired. I was very impressed, not bored for a second for such a long cartoon. It expertly brought together the entire story in a whopping grand finale.

Anyone that hasn't checked this series out yet should really give it a try. Even if you're not into cartoons. It really is a good story with humor in just the right places.

Hancock

july 17 2008 09:53

Recently I went to see Hancock. It was more of let's go see a movie with Janet, my girlfriend, and that one was playing. We figured it'd entertain us enough.

Was I taken by surprise. This movie is actually a whole lot better than I had anticipated. Now first of all it met my personal criteria for being a good movie in that it entertained me. But the story around it was actually well written and not as standard as you would have expected.

Supposedly there's a lot of talk about the movie around speculating about his origins and the like. But honestly, can't people just sit down and enjoy a movie?

Also, despite various flaky rolls Will Smith had over the past few movies. This was actually a pretty good roll for him and he played it very well.

In conclusion, go watch this movie.

Doctor Who

july 06 2008 10:00

Just saw the season finale of Doctor Who. We taped it last night. Man what an impressive episode. I love how the show manages to combine over the top sci-fi with occasionally great subtle humor.

This finale really was an impressive display of writing and bringing together everything collected over the last few years. Any of you that have not seen the new Doctor Who series, be sure to pick it up. It's seriously worth the effort.

Apparently season 5 won't be aired until 2010 with Tennant doing Hamlet in the royal theater. From what I could glean from 'old' news resourced here and here. Even then it is apparently unclear if Russel T Davies and David Tennant will still be part of it. Personally I hope Tennant stays on as the Doctor. I just love his 'wonder' at things as he saves the universe.

Guess we'll have to wait until then though.

Wargames: The Dead Code

july 04 2008 10:15

Recently I had the chance to watch the Wargames movie.

It was a direct to TV movie which was obvious from the poor acting and general cheap feel. For a sequel is doesn't really match up to the original though. This movie makes pretty much all of the common hollywood mistakes that can be made about computers. Which is grating since Wargames was one of the few movies that came 'closest' to reality.

Another flaw is that you need to have seen the original movie to make any sense of latter half of the movie. The first half is pretty straightforward, but in the second half major points from the original movie were introduced. And if you haven't seen the first movie, you'll have no idea what it was about.

All in all, if you've seen the first movie you can give this one a try. It's good for watching one time. Other than that it's not really all that spectacular or groundbreaking as the first one.

New website live!

july 02 2008 12:26

Well, I've finally done it. I managed to finish up the new website. Hope everybody likes it.

It's rather obvious the forum is currently not active. Don't worry. this is something that will be fixed shortly. I have to make it so it meshes well with this website.

That will be all for now.