p e n g u i n d e v i l

Oi Microsoft. I know that no corporation really has the best interests of their consumers in mind, but sometimes, it can swing too far the other way. Case in point? Microsoft. Thinking of all of their protectionist antics: those terrible multi-year upgrade contracts where you pay for upgrades even if you don’t want or need them, the ironclad box they call the Zune and its crazy “we work for the RIAA” DRM strategy (okay everyone, now you can stop complaining about Apple’s DRM), the rumor that Walmart signed a contract with them to ensure that Firefox won’t work with their movie download site… I see that this week it been changed to just give an “unsupported browser” window instead of the gibberish it was presenting (of course, having iCab spoof IE you could get in and use it, if you really wanted to…), their old standard of having their web software write HTML in a non-standard way in an attempt to undermine the other Browsers in the world. And then now? This patent 20070033102 for technology that (in the case of “paid” advertisement’s: free computers with ad’s on desktop, free browser with ad’s on the desktop, etc) will enable them to verify that the user is “consuming the advertisement”? Possibly opening more of those beloved Microsoft windows for you to “interact” with to ensure consumption of advertisement and possibly shutting off the service if you do not pay enough attention to the ad’s. Sure, it sounds reasonable (nothing is free, etc) but viewed all together, they may be the most anti-consumer “Consumer Goods” company.

This 25 year campaign to pretend that they are the standard and the only option because they know that if people don’t think that way, they probably wouldn’t buy Microsoft products. I think that the “sales” of the Zune and Ballmer’s comments that – the sales of Vista will be basically the same as the sales of new systems – point this out. It again reminds me of the RIAA and how they shutdown the old MP3.com because it enabled people to distribute their own music (and maybe even make some money) without a recording contract, Microsoft seeks to shutdown anyone who tries to let people know that there are better, non-Microsoft options.

“Now that we have 90% of the computer population looking at our screens all day, let’s force them to be as chained to these systems as we want them too be: crappy MSoft applications, over-the-top security system with waves of alert windows, buying music and being told where and how you can listen to it, subverting the standards of the Internet to damage competition.. We just need to make sure they don’t realize they have other options!”.

I would say that I cannot imagine why all these companies spend all of this time and money on Windows stuff, except for that the IT departments of the world know that if the people they support were to switch (to linux, Mac or better yet, Unix, but with a Mac you get both anyway), there wouldn’t be nearly the need for IT departments. Talk about planned obsolescence…

Anyway, on to movies, none of which have been downloaded from Walmart… Jesus Camp. Yes well, a bit scary. A very unbiased documentary about evangelical children. Like Blood in the Face, it can be hard to watch. These belief systems that, not only require no factual basis, but also consider contrary factual information (tests of faith or what have you) as evidence, are very scary. If you think that not only are your beliefs unprovable but anything that contradicts you makes you feel all the more correct, can lead people into all sorts of nutty stuff. If there ever was a historical Jesus, I feel that he would be shocked to see what his hopes for reforming Judaism have warped into. Anyway, the folks who made this basically let the Jesus Camp folks say it as they think it (though they do throw in some of an Air America commentator to, well, balance it isn’t the right word, but to show an opposing viewpoint). This movie is alot of kids with bad haircuts who have trained themselves to cry at the drop of a hat and rattle on in, um, “tongues”. It gives a very bad name to home schooling (Creationism? Dad says so!). But, if you can stomach it (as I barely could) it is interesting, though you can’t help but wonder how some of these kids might freak out when they hit their twenties and reality starts peeking in around their folks apron strings…

On a more cheerful note, I continued my way through the Blind Dead saga with El Ataque de los Muertos sin Ojos (aka: Return of the Evil Dead). Well, first off, not to spoil anything, but the ending is very anti-climactic. Aside from that, it moves the action of the first movie into a town. Like most sequels, pretty unneeded unless you’re a fan and, a fan I am! I do so love those horse-riding skeletons! Five hundreds years after the townsfolk kill the Templars they have a little celebration with “burning templars in effigy” and everything! But, of course, the old stories are true and the nasty knights return! They proceed to attack the town and our heroes hole up in the church and the games begin! The town slaughter scenes are a bit hackneyed and silly, but it is still great fun.

To Die For. Okay, well, not quite my cup of tea… Though the story seemed like it had some potential. It seemed like one of those Based-on-a-true-story kinda stories where a wife convinces some dense teenagers that they should kill her husband. Matt Dillon was good but I really don’t like Nicole Kidman. She seems a terrible actress and her style comes across very stilted. And I may be dense but, the box describes it as a comedy. Which it certainly didn’t strike me as one of… Maybe they meant that for the box of I Love You to Death, now that’s a spouse killing comedy which I highly recommend!…

Event Horizon. I finally got my hands on a copy of this! I saw it a good while ago and remembered liking it. So now this time? It has a lot of elements of fun classic films, most noticeably it’s a bit of Alien and Hellraiser and I find it quite likable. A rescue ship is sent to investigate another ship that had vanished and then come back (but from where) and it has come back with a little something strange… Animal? Vegetable? Mineral? Chunks of pure evil? You be the judge. It’s a fun, dark, action-filled, sci-fi/horror film, it has good creepiness and some nice gore scenes. It’s suspenseful and has good look to it and some fun science fiction ideas. The casting of Sam Neill seemed a bit odd to me, but he does a good job and generally the cast is strong. All in all a strong film, though some bits seemed a bit too far fetched (the airlock rescue scene? Anyone?) and I swear that a half hour must be missing from the film.

Pan’s Labyrinth. Yes, I actually did make it to this, as I’d been planning for months, ever since the Rue Morgue feature. Though it wasn’t quite as grand as I had been expecting, it was plenty fun. A little girl, living at a military outpost at the tail end of the Spanish civil war, is told that she is the daughter of the king of the underworld and must complete three tasks to prove herself. It combines a fantasy film with some subterfuge and shooting. I appreciated the Civil War stuff just because it’s rarely portrayed (or even mentioned) in the USA at all, so it was nice to get this little glimmer of it. In terms of the fantasy stuff, it was good, and I would have liked for there to have been a bit more, but I found both of the story arcs to be engaging and fairly suspenseful and the movie looks nice. Remember, it isn’t for children.

Keep the River on Your Right. I thought it was interesting, less of the jungle than I had expected and it doesn’t come across as “dangerous” as I had expected from the marketing. it is pretty much a harmless tale of a fellow who goes and lives with the natives for a good while and then now, many years later, goes back (to New Guinea and Peru) and meets up with those he knew before. Its basically a sweet story of an old man revisiting his youth. The marketing again makes a big to-do about the cannibal angle, but it’s a pretty minor deal and not really too big a piece of the story… Except for some of the comments of interviews in the movie.

Desperation. I liked this pretty well, certainly better than most of the other Stephen King TV projects I’ve seen. Maybe it was the setting that enabled it to come off not being as overtly cheapo as most of the others? The story of the sheriff of an empty town who seems to enjoy collecting folks he pulls over, It was directed by Mick Garris (who is busy these days directing Masters of Horror episodes… though I haven’t seen any of his) and stars Ron Perlman, Tom Skerrit (!) and Steven Weber (from Jenifer, another Masters of Horror connection). Though don’t get me wrong, it is pretty corny. But I found it easy to play along with and fun. And Perlman’s sheriff is a pretty vile fellow, though the ending is weakly anticlimactic.