Quantum of Solace review

Quantum of Solace = B-
I can't quite put my finger on why I didn't like this Bond movie very much. And definitely not as much as the the previous Bond.
Roger Ebert made some good points, but I disagree with him on some others. James Berardinelli echoes Ebert's thoughts too. I agree with Berardinelli on this.
Sadly, there's something a little hollow about the proceedings. There's no real catharsis. In fact, the whole thing doesn't feel like a complete movie, or at least not a complete Bond movie.
Saw this movie last week in Sunrise, Florida when I was there to see a Red Wings game.

Economy hits U2 hard

The Irish rock band U2 had planned an eco-friendly sky rise in Dublin. Given the current econmic situation it's been scuttled.
Economic Woes Wipe U2 From Dublin's Skyline

Los Angeles (E! Online) – Count U2 among the list of global economic casualties.
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority in the band's native Ireland has suspended construction on the U2 Tower, a $250 million skyscraper boasting an egg-shaped recording studio at its peak.
"The objective is to see this landmark project completed," the DDDA said in a statement Friday. "However, given the current unfavorable economic environment, more time is needed at this juncture."
Somehow we feel that, despite the inevitable civic disappointment, people in recession-ravaged Ireland will understand.
The proposed tower, an ecofriendly structure designed by British architect Norman Foster, was to measure nearly 400 feet, making it Dublin's tallest building, and include million-dollar luxury apartments, a viewing platform for the public, solar paneling, wind turbines and a tunnel to allow riverside traffic to drive through the base of the building.

Silverlight competes with Flash

The video players, Adobe's Flash and Microsoft's Silverlight, are in a heated competition according to USAToday.

If you watch video online — on YouTube, MySpace, CNN, Hulu or elsewhere — you're viewing in Adobe's Flash, a software plug-in that's on 98% of computers.
But Microsoft hopes to change that with a new version of its Silverlight plug-in and software, designed for higher-quality online video and snazzier graphics on websites. The software giant has signed up some big partners to help show off Silverlight, including online movie rental service Netflix and rival Blockbuster.

I've learned my lesson - to distrust anything touted by Microsoft. I will stick with Flash, and there's no way I will download Silverlight.

OpenOffice.org downloaded 10 million times

The free office suite program had 10 million downloads of its latest release.
Hopefully it's not just one person.
OpenOffice.org Achieves Ten Million Downloads at the End of its Beijing Conference

Rachel Getting Married review

Rachel Getting Married = A-
Awesome movie. I loved the story, acting and music. Although I typically like Jonathan Demme directed movies, my biggest complaint was that there was too many hand-held shots. To the point it was distracting to movie. Some I understood, but there was just too much for me.
Roger Ebert and James Berardinelli really liked it, and I pretty much agree with their reviews.
Attended the movie Tuesday at Keystone.

What Just Happened? review

What Just Happened? = C-
There were some funny parts, but not enough to elevate it past the grade I gave it. The acting was decent too, still very disappointing.
James Berardinelli didn't seem to think much of it either. Couldn't find a Roger Ebert review.
Attended the movie at Keystone Tuesday.

OS X running on a netbook

Wired, which seems pro-PC to me, wrote a story titled "Apple has 'Interesting Ideas' for netbooks" and then shows OS X running on a PC netbook.

"We'll wait and see how that nascent category evolves, and we've got some pretty interesting ideas if it does," Jobs said.He added that to the company's knowledge, netbooks aren't selling all that well. However, recent reports strongly disagree.

In my opinion the MacBook Air is a high-powered netbook, granted it's priced significantly higher, but the screen is significantly larger too and it's a more robust computer than netbooks.

AT&T offers free Wi-Fi to iPhone users

The full story is here.
I've been wanting an iPhone since I first heard about them. With Verizon, it's all about the network, and it's top notch. Add to that the high quality customer service. I won't be switching anytime soon, but this news makes it more tempting. Yet some places already offer free Wi-Fi, why not visit those places instead?

Zack and Miri Make a Porno review

Zack and Miri Make a Porno = A
It's hard not to like a movie that features hockey, sex and lots of laughs.
Roger Ebert and James Berardinelli gave it favorable reviews, but not as many stars as I thought they would.

Crossover Office

Crossover Office is software that allows Linux and Mac users the ability to use Windows based Microsoft Office applications to run on their computers. The company, CodeWeavers, that produces it is offering it for free right now.
The whole story can be found here.

Body of Lies review

Body of Lies = A
Ridley Scott, Leonardo DiCapro and Russell Crowe are true artists. Very good thriller, and the direction and acting were top notch.
I especially liked Crowe's opening quote, which concerned whether the United States should be in Iraq or not. His quote said something like one shouldn't question whether the U.S. should be in Iraq or not, it's already there. The question should be what should U.S. citizens do about it now.
The quote rang true, and it's the right thinking now. To judge whether the U.S. should be there or not has passed.
This movie brought me back to thinking about Three Kings and the idea of Western Betrayal.

Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn review

Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn = A+
Wow! I love this song. Travelling up to Detroit recently I was listening to several Detroit-based artists. One was the White Stripes and their CD Icky Thump. I got to song six, and got cold chills. The beat and Meg's drumming really moves me on this track. Jack's delivery of the lyrics reminds me of Gordon Lightfoot's on The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Prickly Thorn is a Scottish influeced tune complete with bagpipes, which for many seems to be either love or hate. In this tune they don't bother me. Frankly I can understand why people don't like them.
Anyway, I'm in love with this song. About a minute in Meg adds another drum, and that's when I got cold chills.

All Together Now reveiw

All Together Now = A
Very good documentary about the making of the Cirque du Soleil - Beatles show Love.
My only complaint is that I wanted to see and know more. Specifically I wanted to know more about the making, or more appropriately the mixing of music from Love.

The Duchess review

The Duchess = B
Interesting story, great acting, but it felt like a period piece soap opera.
Roger Ebert and James Berardinelli had opposing views of it.
This time I agreed more with Ebert.

W. review

W. = D
I haven't seen all Oliver Stone movies, but W. is easily the worst I've seen of his.
Boring, extremely boring.
The actors portrayals of their characters saved it from an F.
James Berardinelli didn't think much of it either. He's pretty much spot on, but he thought the actors were just mimicking their characters. Roger Ebert gave it a glowing review.

Choke review

Choke = C+
Funny at parts, but I'd have a hard time recommending it to people.
Definitely some eye candy for the guys though. Some girls have told me Sam Rockwell is pretty hot. Maybe, but he's a good actor in my opinion. He was great in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Roger Ebert and James Berardinelli gave it mixed reviews.

I Just Called to Say I Love You review

Stevie Wonder's I Just Called to Say I Love You is a song that I didn't much care for when it was first released in 1984. When I bought his Number 1's CD I was surprised to see it on there, because I didn't think it had reached number one. In any case, listening to it today I was touched. It moved me, finally. I don't really know why, but it did.

Here's what sombody wrote about it on Wikipedia.
The midtempo ballad expresses how simply calling someone to tell them you love them can make even the most unremarkable day of your life magical. It is one of Wonder's most simplistic, jingly and sentimental songs, and, with its quintessentially mid-80s synthesizers and drum machines, is a far cry from his more organic and experimental 1970s material. For those reasons it was savaged by critics upon its release. However, the public were seduced by its simple charms, making it one of Wonder's most successful singles to date.
Fair enough. I like many of his other songs better, but it is damn catchy.
I think what I like more than anything is how he lyrically weaves all the months and seasons together.

Economy hurts, turn to open source software

Read an interesting article today about the bad economy and computer software prices.
When the Stock Market Gives you Lemons, You Make Lemonade
Facing tough times? Now might be a good time to turn to Open Source.
Jason Perlow, who wrote the article, made some good points.
So if your Windows XP system is getting clunky with age – like my wife’s old PC was — why not forget purchasing some new Core 2 Quad 4GB Vista PCs for a year, and look into refurbishing your 2 or 3-year old systems with a free, feature rich, and less resource-intensive Linux distribution such as Ubuntu or OpenSUSE? Instead of Microsoft Office, why not run OpenOffice? Set up a file, web or database server with CentOS or Debian. Do you need a virtualization solution? Check out VMWare ESX 3i or investigate KVM and OpenVZ, with a solution like ProxMox.
Sure, we all want the economy to return to a stable and growing state, and we want to be able to improve our business and personal computing infrastructure. But in the meantime, we can all breathe easy that in terms of software, Open Source and Linux has us covered.
My friend at work was going through the same problems with his XP machine. He made the switch to Ubuntu and hasn't looked back.

Four Seasons review

Four Seasons = B
Saw this one on HBO in widescreen format, which is always a plus in my opinion.
Good movie, but I'd have a hard time saying it was exceptional. One thing I really liked about it was the dialogue. It seems anything Alan Alda writes is at least worth seeing. This movie is no different.
The movie is probably too old for Ebert and Berardinelli to have reviewed, but this one at Reel.com is worth reading.
The couples aren't young and beautiful (except for Armstrong); the women are attractive, but not stunning, as are the men. And, most unusual of all, the movie celebrates the wisdom of life experience.
Alda's first hat-trick film—he wrote, directed, and stars in it—remains heartwarming and inspirational without being cheesy.

Infamous review

Infamous = A

To me it was just as good Capote. It was basically the same story - about Truman Capote writing In Cold Blood.

James Berardinelli wrote a positive review. I pretty much agree with him except about the actor, Toby Jones, who played Capote. I thought he did just as good if not better job than Phillip Seymour Hoffman did in Capote.