Posts from Derelict

Movie Moment: Traitor

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:27:03 +0000

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It had some solid acting, interesting story, lots of drama and some suspense thrown in. They tried to throw in a lot of twists and turns, and although they were appreciated, I didn't think they were all that surprising. It was good overall, but a lot of what made it interesting is the waiting to see what will happen next. Once you know, the magic is a little lost the 2nd time around. Still, if you're into these types of movies I would recommend seeing it at least once.

Movie Moment: Angels & Demons

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:33:30 +0000

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Anyway, the movie was good! I thought it was paced much better than tDVC, and had some very good performances, and a solid plot with interesting characters. Although I liked it better overall compared to the first movie, I think the first had a better puzzle & clue system. In this one the mystery they were chasing seemed to be just about finding the next church they needed to go to. Still a good movie; I would recommend it if you enjoyed the first, and say that it's worth at least one watching fans of the suspense/drama genre.

Movie Moment: Double Bill

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:18:21 +0000

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My wife and I watched Knowing the other night (staring Nicolas Cage). I did not like it. The beginning was cool, but I found it soon lost it's edge. The only thing that kept me watching until the end was to see how the world was going to end, and if the writers actually went through with it.

I didn't really care a whole lot about the characters, and what was supposed to be tense moments felt drawn out and tiring. I also did not like who the guys in the black trench-coats turned out to be. Lame.

When it was all over, I felt it was pretty uninspired.

I also watched Outlander recently. I was all prepped for this action movie. It was fairly under-promoted, so I was ready for some current day special effects dropped into an movie with 80's klassic action, characters, and plot lines. I was expecting a bad movie, but a good bad. Like a fun, cheesy bad movie. And that's what I got for the first half. But then it started to drag on, and I simply lost interest into what was going on. I think the mistake they made was thinking that it had the potential to be an epic film (like my all time favourite Aliens). Unfortunately their believe that the movie was bigger than it real was seemed to be it's biggest downfall.

Movie Moment - Doubt

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:26:06 +0000

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The script itself is pretty uninspired. It's straightforward, and plays out pretty much like you expect. Where the movie does shine is in the character building of each of the 3 main players, and the great performances that each one were able to bring to the screen. With lesser quality actors this movie would have felt very slow and boring. Thankfully that wasn't the case, and they were able to pull off an interesting drama.

It's not the worlds greatest movie by any stretch, and it's definitely not for everyone, but I thought it was worth watching. What I took away from it, was that it was not so much about a priest who is potentially a pedophile, but more about people with power. On one hand there's someone with the power of authority, and on the other is a person with the power of integrity.

A quiet movie for a quiet night in, with some serious themes. Not exactly a popcorn movie, but recommended for those that are in need of a drama, and don't mind heavy religious themes.

Let's not confuse friendly with trustworthy.

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:51:51 +0000

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I was just finishing up at a cash in Zellers, during a quiet time in store. This guy comes in holding on to a large wooden rack, or collapse shelving unit or something, and his baby (who was asleep). His baby is in one of those seats that then latches into the base of a car seat, so you can remove it easily. Those things with a kid in it can get heavy, and are awkward to carry, so I felt for him. His problem was that the wood in one of the things he had just bought was broken, so he wanted to exchange it.

He tells the cashier "I'm just going to leave him here with you while I go get a new one, if that's okay." The cashier says yes, and he leaves.

Is he crazy! You do not leave your baby alone on a check-out counter with a stranger (and yes, given their dialogue, I think it was safe to assume they do not have a social relationship outside of the store). GO GET A CART!

It's things like this that make the dad's on TV commercials that don't how to cook dinner, or clean the floor look like plausible human beings.

Mini Movie Moment: District 9

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:59:27 +0000

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It has a great: cast, plot, action, drama, sound, and even some comedy and little bit of love-story mixed in. Plus it shows that with an impressive script and talent behind the camera you don't need Brad or Leonardo or some other top U.S. branded celebrity to have the characters shine on screen.

Movie Moment: Body of Lies

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 01:52:58 +0000

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Body of Lies is about a CIA agent trying to find a terrorist. In this day an age, the basic concept for the movie is not all that imaginative or original, but the delivery of the story was very well done.

The script is quite strong, with ever changing circumstances that are always driving the story forward. Coupled with solid performances by all the actors (not just the ones delivered by DiCaprio and Crowe, although they were excellent) which helped with the creation of interesting characters, this movie delivered some intriguing entertainment.

This one wouldn't be for those that lose track of characters and locations easily, and there are few off-putting scenes of violence, but if you can take it than I would recommend this movie.

Movie Moment: Passchendaele

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 12:14:57 +0000

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Passchendaele - If you haven't heard of this war movie that came out last year, I'm not surprised. I'm guessing Canadian WW1 films don't get a whole lot of notice. Now let me say before I get into this review that I am biased for 2 main reasons.

1. It's a war movie about Canadian soldiers. There's not many of these around, so I automatically had an interest.

2. It was directed by and starring Paul Gross. A great Canadian actor that has done his best to keep his talent and love of film local. That in itself makes me want to support his work. Men With Brooms anyone?

Anyway, the movie. Very good acting, and a nice balance in the story of war and romance. I haven't really seen a lot of war movies (it's not a genre I tend to lean towards), but I felt the battle scenes in this one were all well done. Gross also added a fair mix of emotion and attitude among the soldiers that I felt was used as a reminder that these soldiers were just guys, that somehow fell into the fight. It also reminded me of some real war stories I remember hearing.

Although I won't be holding my breath to watch it again, I think it was a good experience to see it at least once.

Movie Moment - the Watchmen

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:47:52 +0000

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It was good. I had never read the book to compare it to, but it definitely doesn't feel like a superhero movie. Going in, I wasn't expecting a typical superhero movie, but this didn't feel like one at all. Yes, they are in there, but it was more of a crime drama to me then anything. That's not a bad thing, but at the same time I wasn't feeling pumped up by the whole event. By the end, I was happy to have seen it, but not excited that I had seen it. Rorschach was a great character though. He was the most interesting to see and hear in the movie. I know he's probably a favourite pick of many, but it wasn't for his violent nature, or his ability to kick ass that I gravitated to. His actions weren't the best part for me, but his character was.

The rest of the cast was just alright. No one else really jumped off the screen for me.

I'm going to try not to unveil any plot points here, but I am going to talk about the purpose I percieved from the ending.

I think I get the point the movie was trying to make, which is that the end justify the means. While I'm not going move into a discussion about that, I felt the ending of the movie was fairytalish or hollywoodized. I didn't think it kept in line with the rest of theme of the movie. Anyway, that's all I'm going to say about that.

In the end it was good, and I would watch it again if it just happens to be on (and nothing else is), but I don't see myself doing anything proactive to get another viewing.

Multilingual Word Substitution

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:16:20 +0000

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There's a couple people in my office that seem to almost always answer their phone by saying "hola" instead of hello. There's nothing wrong with that, but I think it's funny that it seems acceptable, and no one really questions it.

Imagine if I did the same thing, but with an even more random word. Like the word, today. If I started saying vandaag instead of today, people would think I was nuts.

"Hey, what's up with you vandaag?"

"You'll never believe what happened to me vandaag."

"In vandaag's blog post, I talk about quirky things we do when talking."

Movie Moment: Pride and Glory

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:28:25 +0000

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YES! This is my 3rd movie summary this month. NO! I don't know what's going on. Pride & Glory starring Colin Farrel, Noah Emmerick, Jon Voight, and of course, Ed Norton. It's a movie about a family of cops that get caught up in a drug bust cover up and the situation escalates from there. Sound pretty typical, and I guess the story really isn't all that creative.

There's a few big name actors in it, and although they did a good job at spreading out the screen time to show them all off, the one that really stood out was Ed Norton. I think Ed Norton is awesome in everything, so it's no surprise that I liked him in this movie. He bumped the whole experience up for me a notch.

Everyone else did pretty good too, and there were nice performances from even the lesser characters in the movie. But their roles, and the story in general isn't one that begs to be seen over and over again.

So overall, it was a good movie, and worth watching if you're into police dramas.

Movie Moment: Benjamin Button

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:05:46 +0000

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So we watched the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was better than 7 Pounds, but still not as good as I was hoping it to be. It was also a little depressing.

The acting was good, and if you can take for granted that someone was born aging backwards, the way the events unfolded felt pretty realistic. It was also hard to tell for sure how it was going end, until you got close to it, and that was good.

I would recommend watching it if you wanted a slow night in with a quiet movie, with a date. And although I won't be rushing to see it again, it's not because it was bad. It's just for a movie this long, it wasn't so great that I'll pop it in for the heck of it.

It was good enough to watch once, but I could live without seeing it twice.

Movie Moment: 7 Pounds

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:53:03 +0000

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It guess it was a good dramatic-romance (I guess it would be called), but those types of movies aren't really my thing. It wouldn't have been so bad if they mixed the concepts a little better. It seem like there was a dividing line that made the first half a drama and the second half a romance, and I was expecting more of what was at the start. I would've liked the other characters to play bigger parts, and to get more involved in their stories.

+ Great acting.

+ Interesting concept.

- Second half felt like it moved along a lot slower than it needed to.

- Gets boring when you can figure out early in the movie what it's all about, and predict what big events will be happening.

Movie Moment: Wanted

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:55:56 +0000

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It was not good. The story was a mish-mash of stereotypical action movie plots and the action itself was repetitive. Really, there's not much more to say than that.

Social Network Marketing

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:58:48 +0000

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Here's what I'm thinking:

It's a marketing tool. Capitalization of letters represents structure, rules, and in turn, authority. Keeping everything lower case suggests things are fun and informal.

This may be nothing new to you, and although I noticed before that these services did not capitalize their names, I only really thought about it when I saw all the names side by side and realized that nobody did it.

We bought a new laptop!

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:46:17 +0000

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We were thinking of buying a new desktop, as my old one is... well... pretty old, and is doing weird things, and getting very slow. Then the wires in the joint between the top and bottom halves of our laptop started acting up, causing our display to keep going out if we moved it. Since the internal network card has also been going a little crazy, we decided to go with a new laptop instead and I'm going to format the ol' desktop to start fresh and keep it going for another little while. We use our laptop more anyway.

As for the old one, our upstairs TV has a connection for a PC display, so we're just going to hook it up to that, and leave it there.

Still just 5 hours?

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:20:47 +0000

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Shouldn't it last longer if it's extra strength? I mean, I get that you may feel MORE energetic for the first 5 hours, but wouldn't it take longer to taper off? But then I guess it wouldn't be 5 Hour Energy Extra Strength, it would just be 7 Hour Energy Regular Strength or something.

The Android Commeth

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:54:30 +0000

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I've been given the opportunity to test out a new 3.5G Wireless device running on the Linux based Android O/S. That's all I can really say about it at the moment.

Movie Moment: Be Kind, Rewind

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:43:22 +0000

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Be Kind Rewind stars Jack Black and Mos Def. I'm not a big fan of Jack Black. I actually preferred Mos Def.

Mr. Def takes care of a VHS rental shop while the owner (Danny Glover) is away, and the silly friend, Mr. Black, gets magnetized during one of his crazy shenanigans and erases all the tapes by accident (sigh).

Anyway, the movie wasn't great. I suppose it was a good movie but just not my style. I felt like it didn't know what it wanted to be. I suppose it attempted to be a dramatic-comedy, and has parts of each genre, but doesn't pull of either very well in the long run.

I did laugh a lot for their filming of Ghostbusters, and a little bit for Rush Hour 2, but that was about it. Jack Black was suppose to provide more comic relieve, but I really don't find him that funny.

Back to the movie. They had sub plots throughout the movie, but I find that they didn't fit well. For example, they showed almost no sexual tension between 2 of the characters until an unexpected moment in one scene, which felt awkward and misplaced.

The rest was just kind of.... blah. It didn't hold my interest. It was a good story I suppose (or at least the premise), but not one I cared about.

I think you need a dictionary application on that thing.

nobody@ipernity.com (Derelict) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:33:01 +0000

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I saw an list online entitled "101 Most Essential iPhone Apps of 2008". First of all the fact that there's 101 suggests to me that someone doesn't know the definition of essential. Upon seeing that one of the apps is a picture of a cowbell that makes a sound when you tap it appears to confirm my suspicions.