Oct. 21st, 2005

jack: (Default)
I went to see Night Watch with CUSFS. It was a bit odd but pretty engaging.

The subtitles had some effort put in, eg. subtitles for someone reading from the computer had a pseudo typing/cursor effect; emphasised phrases sometimes appeared called out; they occasionally were wiped by people walking or falling past. They seemed to me more harbingers of footnotes to come: it makes sense for a film with a significant market abroad to put some, indeed, much, effort in, rather than have someone in an dingy office transcribe things badly onto low-contrast parts of the screen, and this did waaay more than most, but seemed mainly to make me think of other tricks you could do.

The whole good/evil supernatural beings never makes sense. Though was a bit different to the complete cliche.

It had a lovely dingy feel, that these groups were doing the best they can in a slightly run down city, rather than being the be-all and end-all of shiny.

It had a nice wry sense of humour.

There were two nearly unrelated armageddon plots.

I liked all the characters, there were quite a few, and all interesting and distinct.

The gloom was in interesting concept, but could have done with being explained a bit earlier and more.
jack: (Default)
Time for a public service scientific annoucnement.

TRANSPARENT ALUMIN(I)UM IS HERE!

:)

"The Air Force Research Laboratory's materials and manufacturing directorate is testing aluminum oxynitride -- ALONtm -- as a replacement for the traditional multi-layered glass transparencies now used in existing ground and air armored vehicles."

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123012131

PS. It's funny, I watched startrek before being exposed to the (i) debate, so thought "aluminum (stress on u)" sounded ever so science fictiony :)

Odd dream

Oct. 21st, 2005 02:12 pm
jack: (Default)
We all always feel a need to share dreams, which never make mcuh sense to anyone else. I guess this makes sense, feeling more realistic than they should be is what they *are*. Last night I woke up thinking:

* Dad had fought to the death a doppleganger of him.

Damn you, beckyc! :) OK, but I need to talk to him more.

* I had to ring 411, the emergency services

Hmm. I'm sure I read something about 411 (us directory enquiries?) recently, but I'm not sure.

* I had difficulty connecting to the right department, and for some reason calling police before ambulance.

GAAAAH! HATE BADLY DESIGNED PHONE MENUS!

* Then I couldn't tell which was which

Hmm. Not sure. Could be related to fairly recent confused feelings for a couple of women.

* There was something about an old hp calculator and some remote controls.

OK, time to stop analysing. I think I've spent too much time with a universal remote and a demo board at work.

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