Tuesday, June 17, 2003
I'll be seeing Blur in Portland this Thursday night, and I cannot wait. Anyone here seen Blur in person before? Good? Bad? Whatever? For those of you in Minneapolis, Blur will be there mid-July. Check it out.
Matt:
My least favorite parts were all the Zion scenes, including the 45 minute fucking rave. How exactly did that contribute to the story????
Totally. Thankfully, this scene game me ample time and material with which to pleasure myself. What a waste.
You almost get the sense that, although they clearly planned a sequel, they didn't even think about what it might entail (story-wise), and when the time came they then threw together some crap and added filler (i.e., longer fight and chase scenes, big dance/rave/music video stuff).
And why, if the only people that escape the Matrix are the "enlightened" people, does everyone look so disheveled and useless?
I'm obviously wrong, but for some reason I thought the inhabitants of Zion were people (or descendents thereof) who simply hadn't been captured and put into the Matrix. But you're saying they'd escaped, huh? Obviously missed something there.
Oh, and I had another question to anyone who can answer it. Who was the kid (kind of looked like Mouse from the first movie) who greeted Neo and Trinity in Zion? He kept talking about how Neo had saved his life, and all that. I'm sure this obvious, but I never understood that. Thanks in advance for your help.
Matt:
My least favorite parts were all the Zion scenes, including the 45 minute fucking rave. How exactly did that contribute to the story????
Totally. Thankfully, this scene game me ample time and material with which to pleasure myself. What a waste.
You almost get the sense that, although they clearly planned a sequel, they didn't even think about what it might entail (story-wise), and when the time came they then threw together some crap and added filler (i.e., longer fight and chase scenes, big dance/rave/music video stuff).
And why, if the only people that escape the Matrix are the "enlightened" people, does everyone look so disheveled and useless?
I'm obviously wrong, but for some reason I thought the inhabitants of Zion were people (or descendents thereof) who simply hadn't been captured and put into the Matrix. But you're saying they'd escaped, huh? Obviously missed something there.
Oh, and I had another question to anyone who can answer it. Who was the kid (kind of looked like Mouse from the first movie) who greeted Neo and Trinity in Zion? He kept talking about how Neo had saved his life, and all that. I'm sure this obvious, but I never understood that. Thanks in advance for your help.
Good morning, everyone.
Well, "There there" is just a great song, and there's really nothing more to say about that. As for the rest of the album, I like it. "We suck Young Blood," [#6] "Sit down. Stand up.," [#2] and "Scatterbrain" [#13] are great. I like that there are more guitars this time 'round. Nothing intelligent to say, just thought I'd say that I'm enjoying it.
Have you guys heard of this Christopher O'rielly guy? He's putting out an album of classical piano translations of his favorite Radiohead songs. He performed some of the songs and spoke about the album on NPR. It's worth a listen. I don't absolutely love the translations (or whatever they are), but it's interesting. "Everything in its right place." and "Knives Out" sound good. At the beginning of the show the NPR host suggests that Radiohead are no longer a rock band but (and I'm paraphrasing here ... liberally) are now a group of quasi-classical musicians. Gimme' a break. That sound you just heard was thousands of public radio listeners running to Sam Goody.
One last thought: does the number of references to America found in British music surprise anyone else? Specifically, (1) Radiohead's album named "Hail to the Thief" (Hail to the Chief), (2) in "Backdrifts" on said album: "Maybe you'll be President," and (3) in "Crazy Beat" by Blur, there's a reference to calling the President. Maybe I'm too USA-centric and these aren't in fact references to America, but I think they are. Not sure what explains that. Political climate I suppose.
God I hated this movie.
1. The Fights Scenes Were sooooooooooooooooo BOOOOOOOOOOOORING. I'm not a fan of action movies, generally, so maybe I'm just the wrong person for this. But do people really enjoy watching this crap? I mean, take the scene where Neo is fighting all of those agent dudes after meeting with the Oracle. That scene lasted about 10 minutes, and it was going so fast it was impossible to tell what in the world was happening strategically between the combatants (per usual with action movies). So why are we even watching it? [Note to movie-makers: you can make humans move really fast via computer animation. WE GET IT! ENOUGH! Can we have some actual STORIES, now?] And why does it have to last 10 freakin' minutes? God!
And then, half-way through the fight Neo turns from a realistic, human-like Neo thing into a completely computer animated Neo ... and it looked TERRIBLE!!! (See Jar Jar Binks) What a joke! For all the hype the effects got before it came out, Reloaded looked totally crizappy. Especially that part.
And this is the really stooooopid part about that scene, the part that someone obviously needs to explain to me. Neo "defeated" his aggressors (the suits) by simply flying straight up into the air and, presumably, out of the city. This is what I do not get: WHY DIDN'T HE DO THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE? Why did he wait 10 full minutes during which he took on hundreds of dudes, got monkey-piled, and wasted a LOT of energy instead of just jumpin' on up out of there? I mean, how dumb do they think we are?
2. Ghosts, Vampires, and Deja Vu. This is a minor point really, but does anyone find it just plain embarrassing that the writers feel like it's cool or interesting to explain human experiences via the Matrix? Oh, so vampires and ghosts are rogue computer programs, huh? But I thought the Matrix was formed sometime after 2004, or whatever. Then what the F*CK were vampires and ghosts and goblins BEFORE 2000? Huh? Your stupid explanation doesn't even fit within your own God-Damn timeline!!! BORN? Yes. YESTERDAY? NOOOOO!
[And yes, I understand that we're supposed to think "Holy crap, maybe we're in the Matrix. Maybe it's not JUST A MOVIE! Maybe it's all a form of machine control!" But COME ON! You've got to try harder than that, Wolcheski (sp?) dudes. At least DeJaVu is an actual human experience.]
3. Simple, yet ridiculously complicated story. Unlike the first Matrix (the first movie, I mean, not the first "Utopian" Matrix -- you know, the one that failed because we humans love being miserable so we rejected a peaceful, fulfilling existence?), I was able to follow and understand pretty much everything in this movie. (But that's only because there was really no story, so ...) That is, until we got to the white haired "creator" genius guy. GIVE ME A BREAK! I couldn't understand what that guy was saying, what with all his "this is apropos of this" and "ergo that" bullshit. He was speaking so damned fast I missed half of what he said! Now, it's one thing to have a complicated story line (like the first Matrix), but the Matrix was complicated because it was difficult conceptually. But this time, lacking an interesting story, and knowing that one thing people enjoyed about the first Matrix was its complexity, the writers decided to just make the dude talk really, really, really fast, use some big words and throw out intricate, complicated explanations for a whole bunch of stuff that, as near as I could tell, had little or no bearing on ANYTHING. But now fanatics will buy the DVD so they can go frame by frame and write down everything Mr. Erudite A. Whitebeard says. How dumb is that? F*CKING dumb, that's how.
4. The Chase Scenes were soooooooooooooo BOOOOOOOOOOORING. See #1, above.
Man, that movie S-U-C-K-E-D!
BIG MOVIE STUDIO TO AMERICA: Are there any suckers out there?
JOEL: Right here, sir! Here's my credit card!
I got this mass-email from our career services director (at the U of M law school). At first I thought it was funny, now I feel bad for the guy. Little background: Skadden Arps is a mega-prestigous law firm. A couple of my professors worked there, one of my former bosses worked there. In fact, I think it's the largest firm in the country. Anyhow, it's dreamjob for some people (the majority of law students, probably), so when you're reading this, keep that in mind:
---------------------------------------
Here is what a Harvard summer working at Skadden sent out to one
of his friends...
*****
>>>> ----- ------ 06/02/03 02:25PM >>>
Congrats on the CFA. I'm sure you're about to make VP any day
now. I'm busy doing jack shit. Went to a nice 2hr sushi lunch today
at Sushi Zen. Nice place. Spent the rest of the day typing emails and
bullshitting with people. Unfortunately, I actually have work to
do--I'm on some corp finance deal, under the global head of corp
finance, which means I should really peruse these materials and not
be a fuckup...
So yeah, Corporate Love hasn't worn off yet... But just give me time..
---
XXXX L. XXXXX Summer Associate Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher &
Flom, LLP 4
Times Square New York, NY 10036-6522
OFFICE: -----------------
CELL: ----------------
FAX: -------------
--------@skadden.com
Now, here is what he sent out a few hours later...
>>Fwd: An apology
>>I am writing you in regard to an e-mail you received from me earlier
>>
today.
As I am aware that you opened the message, you probably saw that
it was a personal communication that was inadvertently forwarded
to the underwriting mailing list. Before it was retracted, it was
received by approximately 40 people inside the Firm, about half of
whom are partners. >>
I am thorougly and utterly ashamed and embarassed not
only by my behavior, but by the implicit reflection such behavior
could have on the Firm. The addressing of the e-mail was obviously
an honest mistake. The content of the e-mail was inappropriate,
showed a total lack of discretion, responsibility and judgment, and
undoubtedly did my reputation and my future here no favors. It
showed disregard for the Firm's policies and procedures and for the
very explicit speech that all summer associates were given about
personal responsibility and using good judgment at the start of their
training.
>> The appropriate parties, including Hiring Partner Howard Ellin and
Hiring Director Carol Sprague, are aware of the incident and working
with me to deal with it appropriately. >>
Although I cannot change what you and the other recipients saw, I
do reiterate my sincerest apologies. I do and will take full
responsibility for my actions in this incident, and I will do everything
I possibly can to correct my mistakes and, more importantly, ensure
that this and things like it will not happen again. >>
With sincere regret, ------- -------- >> >>
XXXX L. XXXXX Summer Associate Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher &
Flom, LLP 4
Times Square New York, NY 10036-6522
OFFICE: -----------------
CELL: ----------------
FAX: -------------
--------@skadden.com
Radiohead: Hail to the Thief
Well, "There there" is just a great song, and there's really nothing more to say about that. As for the rest of the album, I like it. "We suck Young Blood," [#6] "Sit down. Stand up.," [#2] and "Scatterbrain" [#13] are great. I like that there are more guitars this time 'round. Nothing intelligent to say, just thought I'd say that I'm enjoying it.
Have you guys heard of this Christopher O'rielly guy? He's putting out an album of classical piano translations of his favorite Radiohead songs. He performed some of the songs and spoke about the album on NPR. It's worth a listen. I don't absolutely love the translations (or whatever they are), but it's interesting. "Everything in its right place." and "Knives Out" sound good. At the beginning of the show the NPR host suggests that Radiohead are no longer a rock band but (and I'm paraphrasing here ... liberally) are now a group of quasi-classical musicians. Gimme' a break. That sound you just heard was thousands of public radio listeners running to Sam Goody.
One last thought: does the number of references to America found in British music surprise anyone else? Specifically, (1) Radiohead's album named "Hail to the Thief" (Hail to the Chief), (2) in "Backdrifts" on said album: "Maybe you'll be President," and (3) in "Crazy Beat" by Blur, there's a reference to calling the President. Maybe I'm too USA-centric and these aren't in fact references to America, but I think they are. Not sure what explains that. Political climate I suppose.
The Matrix Reloaded.
God I hated this movie.
1. The Fights Scenes Were sooooooooooooooooo BOOOOOOOOOOOORING. I'm not a fan of action movies, generally, so maybe I'm just the wrong person for this. But do people really enjoy watching this crap? I mean, take the scene where Neo is fighting all of those agent dudes after meeting with the Oracle. That scene lasted about 10 minutes, and it was going so fast it was impossible to tell what in the world was happening strategically between the combatants (per usual with action movies). So why are we even watching it? [Note to movie-makers: you can make humans move really fast via computer animation. WE GET IT! ENOUGH! Can we have some actual STORIES, now?] And why does it have to last 10 freakin' minutes? God!
And then, half-way through the fight Neo turns from a realistic, human-like Neo thing into a completely computer animated Neo ... and it looked TERRIBLE!!! (See Jar Jar Binks) What a joke! For all the hype the effects got before it came out, Reloaded looked totally crizappy. Especially that part.
And this is the really stooooopid part about that scene, the part that someone obviously needs to explain to me. Neo "defeated" his aggressors (the suits) by simply flying straight up into the air and, presumably, out of the city. This is what I do not get: WHY DIDN'T HE DO THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE? Why did he wait 10 full minutes during which he took on hundreds of dudes, got monkey-piled, and wasted a LOT of energy instead of just jumpin' on up out of there? I mean, how dumb do they think we are?
2. Ghosts, Vampires, and Deja Vu. This is a minor point really, but does anyone find it just plain embarrassing that the writers feel like it's cool or interesting to explain human experiences via the Matrix? Oh, so vampires and ghosts are rogue computer programs, huh? But I thought the Matrix was formed sometime after 2004, or whatever. Then what the F*CK were vampires and ghosts and goblins BEFORE 2000? Huh? Your stupid explanation doesn't even fit within your own God-Damn timeline!!! BORN? Yes. YESTERDAY? NOOOOO!
[And yes, I understand that we're supposed to think "Holy crap, maybe we're in the Matrix. Maybe it's not JUST A MOVIE! Maybe it's all a form of machine control!" But COME ON! You've got to try harder than that, Wolcheski (sp?) dudes. At least DeJaVu is an actual human experience.]
3. Simple, yet ridiculously complicated story. Unlike the first Matrix (the first movie, I mean, not the first "Utopian" Matrix -- you know, the one that failed because we humans love being miserable so we rejected a peaceful, fulfilling existence?), I was able to follow and understand pretty much everything in this movie. (But that's only because there was really no story, so ...) That is, until we got to the white haired "creator" genius guy. GIVE ME A BREAK! I couldn't understand what that guy was saying, what with all his "this is apropos of this" and "ergo that" bullshit. He was speaking so damned fast I missed half of what he said! Now, it's one thing to have a complicated story line (like the first Matrix), but the Matrix was complicated because it was difficult conceptually. But this time, lacking an interesting story, and knowing that one thing people enjoyed about the first Matrix was its complexity, the writers decided to just make the dude talk really, really, really fast, use some big words and throw out intricate, complicated explanations for a whole bunch of stuff that, as near as I could tell, had little or no bearing on ANYTHING. But now fanatics will buy the DVD so they can go frame by frame and write down everything Mr. Erudite A. Whitebeard says. How dumb is that? F*CKING dumb, that's how.
4. The Chase Scenes were soooooooooooooo BOOOOOOOOOOORING. See #1, above.
Man, that movie S-U-C-K-E-D!
BIG MOVIE STUDIO TO AMERICA: Are there any suckers out there?
JOEL: Right here, sir! Here's my credit card!
Glad I'm Not This Dude
I got this mass-email from our career services director (at the U of M law school). At first I thought it was funny, now I feel bad for the guy. Little background: Skadden Arps is a mega-prestigous law firm. A couple of my professors worked there, one of my former bosses worked there. In fact, I think it's the largest firm in the country. Anyhow, it's dreamjob for some people (the majority of law students, probably), so when you're reading this, keep that in mind:
---------------------------------------
Here is what a Harvard summer working at Skadden sent out to one
of his friends...
*****
>>>> ----- ------ 06/02/03 02:25PM >>>
Congrats on the CFA. I'm sure you're about to make VP any day
now. I'm busy doing jack shit. Went to a nice 2hr sushi lunch today
at Sushi Zen. Nice place. Spent the rest of the day typing emails and
bullshitting with people. Unfortunately, I actually have work to
do--I'm on some corp finance deal, under the global head of corp
finance, which means I should really peruse these materials and not
be a fuckup...
So yeah, Corporate Love hasn't worn off yet... But just give me time..
---
XXXX L. XXXXX Summer Associate Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher &
Flom, LLP 4
Times Square New York, NY 10036-6522
OFFICE: -----------------
CELL: ----------------
FAX: -------------
--------@skadden.com
Now, here is what he sent out a few hours later...
>>Fwd: An apology
>>I am writing you in regard to an e-mail you received from me earlier
>>
today.
As I am aware that you opened the message, you probably saw that
it was a personal communication that was inadvertently forwarded
to the underwriting mailing list. Before it was retracted, it was
received by approximately 40 people inside the Firm, about half of
whom are partners. >>
I am thorougly and utterly ashamed and embarassed not
only by my behavior, but by the implicit reflection such behavior
could have on the Firm. The addressing of the e-mail was obviously
an honest mistake. The content of the e-mail was inappropriate,
showed a total lack of discretion, responsibility and judgment, and
undoubtedly did my reputation and my future here no favors. It
showed disregard for the Firm's policies and procedures and for the
very explicit speech that all summer associates were given about
personal responsibility and using good judgment at the start of their
training.
>> The appropriate parties, including Hiring Partner Howard Ellin and
Hiring Director Carol Sprague, are aware of the incident and working
with me to deal with it appropriately. >>
Although I cannot change what you and the other recipients saw, I
do reiterate my sincerest apologies. I do and will take full
responsibility for my actions in this incident, and I will do everything
I possibly can to correct my mistakes and, more importantly, ensure
that this and things like it will not happen again. >>
With sincere regret, ------- -------- >> >>
XXXX L. XXXXX Summer Associate Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher &
Flom, LLP 4
Times Square New York, NY 10036-6522
OFFICE: -----------------
CELL: ----------------
FAX: -------------
--------@skadden.com
