Avatar

Just watched "Avatar". It is 3 hours long movie, but didn't feel long at all. It kept me fully engaged all the time. Also the sheer scale of the special effects is enormous. Regarding the story I heard comparisons with Pocahontas, the indian wars and etc. I am going to put my fingers in my ears and sing "lalalala lalalala" until those people actually come to their senses and start discussing the actual movie. Yes it uses some old cliches and is predictable, but this doesn't diminish the enjoyment of the story nor it message.

Thanksgiving

I had some guest for Thanksgiving and cooked a dinner. The 3 course dinner was quite edible :)

We played ate and Fluxx it was nice evening.

Whip it

Whip it is ok movie. I liked its more naturalistic approach depicting life. Just wasn't taken by the action on screen (not a huge sports fan, sorry).

Generally I like Ellen Page's movies Juno is favorite of mine. Hard Candy is also interesting one.

Where the Wild Things Are

Saw Where the Wild Things Are. I have mixed feeling about it. It is nicely done the animatronic and special effects are top notch. The story is about an egocentric boy with serious anger issues. His mom is quite caring and attentive, but as every working parent has to do other things. Sure he is lonely and craving for attention, but his reactions are quite paradoxical. Her son goes crazy over minimal lack of attention and runs away and goes into a fantasy world etc etc.

It is a strange movie. Will need some think time.

Halloween

Went to see the Halloween parade. It was nice. Good to see that there is still celebratory spirit. I am always fascinated by this type of events, because people choose the costumes themselves and the celebratory spirit absolves them from too much responsibility. The sea group was really good, but I liked Zoltar most.

Surrogates

Just saw Surrogates I liked it. It is not earthshaking one, but is still a nice movie. Discussing isolation brought by technology.

The Informant

Watched "The Informant" previous weekend. It was quite confusing and fun to watch. The main character definitely has issues with confabulation and is quite delusional, but it is so funny to watch his misgivings.

The Prefect

Finished "The Prefect" by Alastair Reynolds. It is set in Glitter Band before the melding plague. It tells the story of Panoply field prefect willing to bring the perpetrators to the justice no matter what. It gives interesting look into Demarchist society before its downfall. It is good addition to Raynolds' Chasm City series.

Inglourious Basterds

Watched "Inglourious Basterds" over the weekend. I have mixed feelings about this movie. It is ok. Although it was 2.5h movie it didn't feel like it, there was always something happening on screen.

Kitchen Confidential

Finished "Kitchen Confidential" last week. It is autobiographical book, tracking Anthony Bourdain's career. It gives interesting insight into the industry. It is quite interesting read.

Also I want to thank mister Bourdain for breaking into my kitchen and getting rid of my tin knifes ;) I am really happy that I got a nice chef's knife. It is so amazingly easy to do those paper thin slices with it. It is light and despite its respectable length is quite easy to use.

Labor Day Weekend

Went to see friends in Washington, DC.

We did some stargazing. Haven't done that in a while. Saw again Jupiter (you can see its bands) and its four biggest moons; a globular cluster (M5); the moon. Astronomy used to be hobby of mine :)

Visited National Museum of Art and the Aerospace museum. Saw more airplanes and rockets then in my whole life :)

Went to see Mount Vernon Estate. It is a huge beautiful estate; most of the buildings are rusticated and I really liked the mansion. It was interesting to see another side of a great politician.

District 9

Saw "District 9". It was quite interesting sci-fi drama. The film has intentionally rough I would say documentary style and is actually a social narrative. It is essentially a story about segregation and oppression. Based on real events that took place in Cape Town, South Africa during apartheid.

Oh and by the way Wicus is just corporate drone, nothing more. Sure he is not trigger happy as the mercenaries, but still he is not a hero. He is short-sighted and always thinks about himself. His only redeeming quality is that he came back for Christopher. While Christopher and his son were in for their people. Worked slowly and methodically all the time; got almost thwarted by Wicus and choose to honor his end of the bargain.

And yup it doesn't matter if you are human or alien, you can still be stupid and cruel or smart and compassionate it is all your your choice.

Whitewater Rafting

Went to whitewater rafting on Housatonic River with friends yesterday. We booked with Clarke Outdoors and they provided us with equipment and transportation.

Started close to Fall Hills, CT and paddled downstream toward Cornwall Bridge (about 10 miles). It was an easy one, which was ok considering that most of the group was newbies (including me). I liked it and it had several quite beautiful views (next time will get a water-proof camera and take pictures). It was great despite the rain.

Note to myself: Need to try higher difficulty level :)

500 days of Summer

"500 days of Summer" is quirky and delightfully entertaining romantic comedy movie. Haven't been pleased so much since watching Stardust and Juno. Summer is relatively direct and completely honest. Tom's slew of mistakes are so funny. He is immature, insecure, absolutely clueless and failing to reciprocate. He is programmed for failure from the very begining. Long sieges rarely win woman's heart. He is lucky that he made it even to friends with benefits state.

G.I. Joe

Saw G.I. Joe it had nice special effects. The story was a bit weak and has plenty of cliches. It is ok movie.

The Ugly Truth

Saw "The Ugly Truth". It is nice and predictable romantic comedy. Although I do not agree with all of the main character observations I agree that you should be loved who you are and not for whatever or whoever you are trying to be.

Bruno

Watched "Bruno", it had some laughs in it, but was an overall disappointment.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" was more of the same and quite enjoyable. If you liked the previous one you should like this one too. My only complaint is that it felt a bit too long.

Up

Wow Pixar outdid themselves again with "Up". It tells a pretty simple, quite charming and human story. Told with mastery and tons of imagination. It is amazing adventure for everybody. I really liked the movie.

Spook Country

Another book that I read recently was "Spook Country" by William Gibson. It is loosely tied sequel of "Pattern Recognition". Hollis Henry (former member of a cult band called The Curfew, now journalist) is hired by Blue Ant of Hubertus Bigend to find a mysterious container. The story is composed of several a bit disjointed stories that are brought together at the end.

Zoe's Story

"Zoe's Tale" is quite interesting done retelling of the events from a previous Scalzi book the "The Last Colony". It is done quite intelligently without introducing too much overlap between the stories. I liked the exploration of the connection between Obin and Zoe.

The Hangover

"The Hangover" is riotous fun. It is one over the top gig after another. The guy that invented the story premise is genius :)

Moon

Saw "Moon" it was interesting movie, reminded me of Solaris and Sunshine. It is interesting plot and it keeps you guessing what is happening. BTW without spoiling the movie, in my opinion Lunar Industries is exploiting slaves.

Angels & Demons

Saw "Angels & Demons" yesterday. It was better then the previous one and containing more historical and factological inaccuracies :)

For instance annihilation of a electron and positron (anti-electron) creates two gamma quants, which means that anybody in close proximity will get a healthy radiation dose. The 250mg antimatter yields about 2*10^23 gamma quants and the proton/anti-proton annihilation would yield probably bunch of exotic particles. The famous e=mc^2 shows about 22.4*10^12 J. In short this helicopter has to be damn high to prevent the radiation killing off everybody on the ground or the air is actually dense as a lead!

But I suppose in this age of forgiveness and tolerance Dan Brown can be spared and avoid to being burnt on stake for performing so many scientific heresies :P

Star Trek

Watched Star Trek. It is good reset of the franchise. Everything was tackled in much more naturalistic fashion then usual for a "Star Trek" movie. I am very pleased that they didn't invent several new elementary particles as a plot device. In every other way the movie was a definite fan service :)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Watched "X-Men Origins: Wolverine". Something was kinda missing from this movie. I mean it had nice special effects the actors were playing well, but it kinda missed the sweet spot. I think that I just prefer the more older-rugged Wolverine. Otherwise it was ok.

Halting State

Finished "Halting State" by Charles Stross. The plot is set in near future when augmented reality (AR) is part of the every day life. People play LARP and ARG games mediated by the AR goggles. At some point game world and real world intersect and that is where the story starts. It is very interesting book, really liked it.

Crank: High Voltage

Watched "Crank: High Voltage yesterday. It was quite funny beside several quite gruesome moments. There were several parody moments and it reminded me of Grand Theft Auto at moments.

The Jennifer Morgue

Recently finished "The Jennifer Morgue". It is sequel to "The Atrocity Archives" with same protagonist. It roughly begins with a real CIA operation Project Jennifer, which involves a recovery operation of a Russian submarine K-129 during the Cold War. Then it deviates into a Lovecraftian horror thriller. I really liked it.

Chicago

Watched "Chicago" it was quite entertaining. I liked the moment when the lawyer played Roxie like ventriloquist doll. Hilarious! Along the the generous portion of comedy there is an interesting satire of the criminal justice system and sensationalist press.

Iron Sunrise

Finished "Iron Sunrise" by Charles Stross some time back. It is a sequel to "Singularity Sky". It is quite action packed and interesting.

Singularity Sky

Finished recently Singularity Sky by Charles Stross. It is about the aftermath of a singularity event. An entity called Eschaton "ascends" and leaves a message engraved in a stone column:

I am the Eschaton. I am not your God.
I am descended from you, and exist in your future.
Thou shalt not violate causality within my historic light cone. Or else.

Eschaton seems quite picky about the last line to the extend that he will destroy a whole planetary system, if it is violated. Hence U.N. creates an agency to deal with causality-violation devices and prevent people to bring Eschaton's undesired attention.

Of course as you can imagine there are many people that think those rules don't apply to them ;)

Watchmen

Saw "Watchmen" over the weekend. It is quite brutal/gritty movie. Also didn't have the typical superhero movie obligatory happy ending. I liked it (despite that it dragged at times).

The Atrocity Archives

The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross several weeks ago. It was quite interesting marriage between spy and horror fiction. Kept me entertained. The book features two novellas "The Atrocity Archives" and "The Concrete Jungle". I am going to look for the sequel "The Jennifer Morgue".

Advertisments In Motion

I was riding PATH this days. Noticed that around 14th street when you look at the wall while the trains is in motion there is advertisement about the movie Coraline. I think that it actually animated. It is really cool idea. Maybe I will tape it next time when I pass by.

Taken

Went to see "Taken". Although I was expecting a spy story I enjoyed it. It was quite gritty and had more realistic fight scenes (i.e. no half an hour fist fights). It is funny, but I noticed almost full absence of blood or entry/exit wounds in this movie. It is most obvious in the final fight on the boat, where the interior keeps its pristine whiteness through out the whole fight. I guess, that it was done in order to get PG-13 rating. Although Bourne's trilogy also has PG-13 and somehow wasn't so obvious... weird.

Anyway... I find the whole idea of trading human beings as property disgusting. Everyone is born free. There is no excuse for enslaving another human being.

Push

Saw "Push". It is an urban fantasy about people with paranormal abilities. Have mixed feelings about it. It is ok movie, but somehow failed to engage me.

Coraline

Watched "Caroline" based on novella by Neil Gaiman. It is filmed as quite beautiful stop motion animation. I watched it in 3D. I liked the movie.

The Amber Spyglass

Finished the last book of the Pullman's trilogy "The Amber Spyglass". It is a beautiful ending of a original and well written story. Also it is atheistic and I can see how it could upset some people. I can share a special mantra that helps: It is only a fantasy book. See no need for moral panic.

Valkyrie

Watched Valkyrie depicting July 20 plot to assassinate Hitler and the consecutive failed coup d'état. I liked it.

The Subtle Knife

Finished the "The Subtle Knife". It entertains some philosophical ideas about free will, parallel worlds. It also tries to make you think about what is good and evil.

It Is Always Mother's Fault

This is an old ad that run some time ago for the reruns of Star Wars. I laugh every time when looking at it.
Thanks to Freud you can always blame your shortfalls on your parents :)

The Golden Compass

Finished "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman. It is quite unique and interesting book. I liked the idea of people having their souls manifest as animal companion and the Dust coming trough a rift between the worlds.

Secret Santa

We played Secret Santa at the office I got "Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain!" by Scott Adams (yup the guy that draws Dilbert). Just finished reading it. I laughed from cover to cover. Hope that people in the public transportation didn't get too alarmed. It was the light hearthed variety ;)

Also I hope that neither me or Scott Adams are ever elected to hold public office :P
Such a wacky sense of humor :)

Thank you secret santa!

The Big Bang Theory

I love this show. It always manages to surprise and entertain me. The last episode with the robot battle was absolutely hilarious.

Gran Torino

Gran Torino has a simple story about a grumpy Korean War veteran challenging the local gang that moved in his neighborhood. Clint Eastwood plays this role so seamlessly. Really liked this movie.

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

The "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is very loosely based on short story by Francis Scott Fitzgerald.

Benjamin is born with appearance of an old man and ages backward. As you can imagine this creates a lot of issues for him.

It is interesting life journey.

"Seven Pounds"

Went to see "Seven Pounds" with Will Smith. It is about a man that is in pain and can't make things right with himself.

Also this movie gives you so many story clues, that you should be able to deduce what the protagonist is going to do just by watching the first 30 mins. Maybe that is why it feels a bit slow. I can't see why people keep saying that the audience was manipulated. It is pretty clear what is going to happen during most of the movie.

"Yes Man"

Watched "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey, it is a nice romantic comedy.
Of course the trailer didn't have anything to do with the actual movie (as usual). It emphasizes too much the comedy elements.

It reminds me "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind".