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I was in an Apple store having someone look at my charger yesterday. While I was waiting for someone to get to me, I decided to look around the new iPods. While I love the new iPhone OS, I found the prices on the iPod Touch high and the space lacking. I think my “perfect” iPod would be an iPod Touch with a hard drive instead of flash storage. Slap a Toshiba 240GB drive in there with 2GB of flash to provide a cache and sell it at $349. I think it would likely kill the sales of the Classic dead – which is almost certainly the long-term goal Apple has. A

I can dream, can’t I?

Let us hope that Spielberg dies before he gets around to ruining another great story.

So – if you’ve not seen Ghost in the Shell yet, watch it now, before Spielberg ruins it.

How long does it take to get a movie just right? If you’re Ridley Scott, the answer is “about 25 years“. But what a great “right” it is!

I first watched what I now know to be the Workprint Version of Blade Runner in my first year of college. The changes from there to this were so dramatic that I actually yelped, “He’s a replicant?!” half-way through the movie. But beyond the changes to the dialog and content of the movie, the real draw of the Final Cut is the remastering. Before that, a word about the movie itself.

Loosely based on Philip K. Dick‘s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?“, Blade Runner is set in a dystopian Los Angeles in 2019. The first shot is in fact of this dystopian landscape and long before it became fashionable to talk about climate change, genetic engineering or globalization, Blade Runner‘s Los Angeles is a globalized multicultural city struggling to cope with its pollution and poverty. Watching it today, I’m reminded how much a staple of modern science fiction storytelling involves this trifecta of issues, but how rare it was 25 years ago and how ahead of its time it was. Even more amazing now are the sets which could be CGI generated today, but are in fact 25-year old props that are heavily inspired by Metropolis and, in turn, heavily inspired the modern cyberpunk movement. The combination of a suitably dark atmosphere and the Gothic and foreboding sets gives the movie realism that I sometimes find lacking in modern science fiction epics.

As for the plot itself – blade runners are special detectives who are tasked with executing replicants, genetically engineered beings that are virtually indistinguishable from humans, and are banned on Earth after an off-world insurrection leaves humans dead. Deckard is one such blade runner, who is called out of retirement to eliminate four of the escaped beings who are implicated in the murder of a fellow blade runner. Even as he eliminates the replicants one by one, he falls in love with a prototype replicant whom he meets while refining a test designed to detect replicants, and is forced to question what the difference between a human and a replicant is.

While the plot itself was truly mind blowing in 1982, given the current staple of dystopian science fiction movies (including some truly excellent ones), it no longer stands out amongst the crowd. Where the work truly shines is in the remastering of the film. The earlier version that I saw suffered from underexposure, lost detail because of the ambient darkness and had a number of inconsistencies. Fortunately Ridley Scott has not been infected with Lucasitis and redone every single visual effect; in fact, almost every effect remains the same. However, 25 years of technological progress means that it’s now possible to edit out wire lines holding up props like the flying cars, blend out stunt suits and fix dialogue that was either missing or just plain wrong. In fact, considering that the movie is 25 years old, it’s amazing how much like modern, HD -recorded and -processed video it looks like. Excepting the occasional graininess, the film looks like a contemporary of the first Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, and not ET. Even Vangelis‘ haunting, synthesizer heavy soundtrack has been redone and it’s now possible to hear the music in your home better than it was possible to hear it in the best theatres of 1982. I am hard-pressed to find fault with this version, and am saddened only by how much time it took for this, the truly definitive version, to come out.

If you have an HD-DVD or Blu-ray player – this is a no brainer: this is one of the best discs you can get to show off those next gen players (ironic, considering how old Blade Runner is); if you have only a DVD player, then I would recommend at least a rental, if not shelling out for the four disc collector’s edition. The only reason I hesitate to recommend the DVD version is because I have not seen the quality of the DVD version, and if that version is at all underexposed, then your viewing experience will be correspondingly diminished.

Be aware that there are versions with a suitcase and without; there really is no reason to get the suitcase that I can think of. But it’s definitely worth watching: whether it’s the first time you’re watching the cult classic, or your nth viewing, the version is truly definitive in every way imaginable.

I discovered a place that sells Blu-ray movies for just about the same as regular DVDs here, so I picked up Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (henceforth, “HP5“, because my hand tires of typing the whole spiel again and again) on Blu-ray for the extra $1.10. And since there’s no way I can write a review of HP5 longer than five or six sentences, I am just going to do some combine-the-posts.

For those of you comfortably watching from the sidelines of the Blu-ray versus HD-DVD battle, the technology involved in the two is functionally identical, down to the frequency of the blue laser used at 405nm. Where the difference lies is how deep individual layers of the disc are located from the surface, which is enough to make the two otherwise identical formats the same. There are some other differences too – HD-DVD can store a maximum of 17GB per layer, Blu-ray stores 25GB per layer, and there are some negligible differences in the software side of things. On the manufacturing side of things, apparently HD-DVDs can be built on the same lines as regular DVDs, making them theoretically easier – read: cheaper – to manufacture than Blu-ray discs; I have not yet seen any price differential that suggests this. Mainly, however, the biggest feature they share in common is irritation.

The primary cause of this irritation, of course, is because some studios have chosen HD-DVD, others Blu-ray. Effectively, there seems to be little to no difference in the quality of these discs, with some movies looking better on one format, and others on the other format. I strongly suspect the reason for this is that as yet there have not been any movies that: (a) require anywhere near the disc space of either format; and, (b) there haven’t been any movies that have yet been optimized for either format. So given that it’s hit or miss, the audio and visual quality differences between the two is basically a wash. So much for Blu-ray versus HD-DVD in the pre-recorded media field.

Where I have thought Blu-ray has had an advantage thus far is in the ease of making Blu-ray discs. While I have seen Blu-ray writers available for some considerable time (at least a year), I have yet to see a single HD-DVD writer. Indeed, I find it ironic that one can buy blank HD-DVD Recordable media, but not a drive to use the media in. Neither do either of the formats allow you to make a copy. While theoretically there is a managed copy mechanism present in the HD-DVD specification to allow copies for either device-shifted uses and backups, I have not seen this ever implemented. Both formats have had their respective encryptions broken within a few weeks of their releases, forcing multiple firmware updates, thus illustrating the basic principle yet again: DRM is a hindrance only for legal users and no defence against those determined to break the security of the discs.

The real joy of HD-DVD and Blu-ray is in watching it instead of a regular DVD. More than the video quality – which I feel is only slightly better than that of a regular DVD because of the aforementioned lack of optimization – the “wow” is in the audio. And what a surprise it is. Like video games, for the first time I have a decent sense of audio movement and positioning. It’s hard to describe, but easy to illustrate. For example, in the battle scene inside the Ministry of Magic in HP5, there is a moment when Lord Voldermort sends shards of glass flying towards Dumbledore and Harry. At the last moment this is converted into sand by Dumbledore. With the regular DVD there is no sense that the glass has a different sound from the sand. With the Blu-ray disc, though, you can tell there are two different materials, because the left side is making a whistling noise while the right side is making a shushing sound. That was the truly “wow!” moment for me.

Ultimately, though, I don’t see the need for the discs. I have long been a proponent of getting rid of the discs and moving to an all digital format. Indeed, given a way to store video with all the options offered by DVDs (subtitles, multiple angles, etc.), I would not today have a single DVD around. I seriously doubt that either format will take off in a major way, serving as a niche market for audiophiles and videophiles. Most people are happy with the quality of DVDs and those who want more are usually well connected to the internet and have legal ways to download better quality videos than DVD offers. In countries where broadband connections are not as prevalent, there is also a preference for the cheaper option – which DVD remains compared to the next-generation discs.

I suspect by the time this format war is settled, everyone who wants better than DVD quality video and audio will have access to it through a broadband connection, and those who don’t have such a connection will continue to be satisfied with DVD quality audio and video. In essence, this war will be an expensive footnote on the road of optical media development.

Hence why I’m two days or so late on my posts. In the meantime, I just wanted to say – it’s arrived! It’s arrived!!

This is the Five Disc Complete Collector’s Edition in Blu-ray. I will watch and review it soon. In the meantime, here’s what’s included:

Disc 1: The Final Cut in 1080p.
Disc 2: Dangerous Days: The Making of Blade Runner Documentary.
Disc 3: The 1982 US Theatrical Version, the 1982 International Theatrical Version and the 1992 Director’s Cut.
Disc 4: Enhancement Archive.
Disc 5: The Workprint Version.

I wasn’t a fan of Blade Runner until I read the book in college. Then I began to appreciate it a lot more. Philip K. Dick is a genius.

I was trying to think of a post that I’d want to write between now and Sunday which I’m trying to get my backup post ready for and I couldn’t think of anything I’d want to write about. So instead of writing nothing, I’ll get a couple of different things out in one post. Cool, eh?

Music: Halo 3 Soundtrack

If you’ve heard the played any of the Halo games, you’ll recognize the amazing work that Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori put into creating just the right music for Halo. If you have bought the soundtracks for either of the previous games, though and liked it, well you’re in for a treat. Unlike Halo 2‘s music which changed radically from the original Halo‘s music – most notably the instruments – Halo 3 takes the existing excellence of Halo 2 and tweaks it with both interesting and radical variations on a theme. For example there is a piano refrain that dates back to the original Halo that goes “da-da-daaaa, da-da-daaaa” and has been used in almost every heavy action sequence in the Halo games and almost every piece of advertising for the game. Now the middle note in the refrain has been moved an octave lower and is more punctuated, making what was an otherwise a great instantly recognizable tune just a little bit more varied and interesting than the original.

Halo 3′s music release is similar to that of the original Halo soundtrack and contains all the actual in game music – some 140 minutes of heart-pounding and emotional music. This is unlike Halo 2, which saw two CD releases, one of which was a general atmospheric CD and the other the actual in-game music. However, there is a hidden track at the end of the second CD by some amateur band about the Halo experience that is probably not worth listening to, so stop after the 16th track on the second CD. If you liked the earlier Halo soundtracks, this is pretty much a no-brainer: you’ll love it. If you didn’t know there were earlier soundtracks, then this is a good place to begin – and work backwards. And if you’re a virtuoso, then feel free to download the sheet music, sans charge. Verdict: Buy.

Opera: American Opera Theater does Handel’s Messiah

If I had a penny for everytime someone told me they liked Handel‘s Messiah oratorio and I scowled, I’d have enough money to do a load of laundry. Messiah is an Easter-time performance that apparently is popular around Christmas time in the US. Not sure why. It’s also not a particularly good work by Handel – you should see Giulio Cesare if you want to hear a great Handel work – but it has its moments when performed by a competent orchestra at a rapid clip. American Opera Theater‘s orchestration was probably closest to this ideal, but why thus it’s so popular, I do not pretend to know or guess at; some theories include the American fascination for the Hallelujah Chorus from Act II. Unlike most versions of Messiah, this production staged it, albeit on a very bare stage filled with recently-purchased IKEA furniture. It was… odd. If you’re interested in a traditional singing performance, this is not for you. If you’re interested in Messiah but want something more interesting (read: controversial), this maybe your performance this season and it’s on again on Saturday the 8th of December and Sunday the 9th (i.e.: tonight and tomorrow night) at the Gonda Theater in Georgetown. However, there was much more interesting entertainment that came out the same day which would be a better use of your time. Both Michael Ludico and Tim Page were there, so you’ll see a review pretty soon at Ionarts (with an entertaining title if it gets past the Charlesitarium if the party allows it if he’s allowed to use it) and perhaps one at the Washington Post too.

More Amateur Feline Behaviour Analysis

I’ve continued trying to map the noises my now 8-month old kitten makes to what he wants. He does try really hard to speak when he wants something desperately, but he doesn’t quite have the capacity to say words exactly so. One long-term mystery was solved recently, so that’s worth sharing. This kitten came very well trained from either the shelter or his birth family. One of the things that in particular he does well is go to the litter if he has any urge to go at all; in all these months, even during the first few days, he has had no accidents and with luck it’ll remain that way.

However, his trainer seems to have taught him (or he has rationalized) to only go when a human is present and preferably just before eating. He still does the latter, which I appreciate, but the former is more of a problem, because he really doesn’t go without a human present. This creates problems – such as when I am in my room and my flat mate is not around; he squeaks and whines until you come out and then he promptly runs to the toilet. At least, that is how it used to work – now he squeaks for other reasons too, such as “come play”. I just figured out, however, that when he just wants someone to come out and play, he vocalizes starting with “m”, so we get “miau” or “myaa” and such. However when he starts with a “w” as in “weh” then he needs to go so he needs either me or my roommate to escort him to the loo.

It’s fascinating to see him try to communicate. I’m almost considering giving up economics for linguistics!

Phone Beeps and Boops

I’ve discovered that the two sliding portions of my Nokia N80, which are connected by a long, flat, ribbon cable, are coming apart and slowly causing the screen to fail. Either I can’t hear through the headset speaker, or the screen washes out, comes out blank or garbled. Looks like I will be out in the market for a new phone in the next few months when this fails entirely. Any suggestions?

On the flip side, I didn’t realize how loud the alarm was until Friday afternoon. I measured it at approximately 85db at 1m after about 15 seconds of beeping. To put it into perspective, that’s close to the limit of hearing damage. And I usually keep it less than 1m away, so probably not the best situation all around. But for what it’s worth, if having a good alarm clock in your phone is something of a key consideration, then the N80 is a good bet, even if it is slightly dated.

Meta

Posting will be a little light after the big backup post tomorrow or so. I have some work to get done quickly, and after that’s done, I’ll have time to play around with a few things and write a few more posts. I’d like to play my way through Assassin’s Creed and Mass Effect, but it’ll be a while, particularly Assassin’s Creed, since I’m getting my rear kicked on one of the training missions. Yikes. There’s also this tiny game called Super Mario Galaxy that I’d like to play. I plan to read more from my ever growing list of books which now includes a few more Kim Stanley Robinson novels, Jack McDevitt‘s The Engines of God, and a half-dozen others and re-read Dan Simmon‘s Hyperion Cantos. And I need to do some of those gadget resets and reformats and all that soon too! Once I’m done with that, I’ll have more time to post, and, as a bonus, I’m sure I’ll have stories to blog about as well.

Fun Fact: Most categoried post ever!

NB: Possible spoilers below, almost definitely in the links.

Zemsta (called “The Revenge” in English) is a delightful little Polish comedy that dates back to 2002, but one which I have only just seen. Based on a popular stage play by Alexander Fredro, Zemsta is the (allegedly) true story of two families who are forced by circumstance to share a castle. A rivalry develops between the heads of the two families, a Notary (Andrzej Seweryn) and a Cupbearer (Janusz Gajos), even while the son (Rafal Krolikowski) and niece (Agata Buzek) of the two, respectively, fall in love.

Into this wonderfully tragic set of affairs comes the perpetually bumbling and boasting Papkin, played by the ever irrepressible Roman Polanski. As a traveling mercenary, with an entirely faked record of combat, Papkin is immediately smitten by the Cupbearer’s niece to whom he introduces himself by singing the most plaintive song about a cat that I have ever heard. I have tried in vain to find the English translation of this song, but I will update this post with the lyrics if I do find it, for it is worth every penny of the movie.

Meanwhile, Katarzyna Figura plays the Widow, a conniving woman whose previous three husbands have met untimely deaths due to unknown causes. Naturally, it is hinted that she is responsible. Nonetheless, the Cupbearer arranges to marry the Widow. The Widow, however, has other plans and on the day of the wedding proposes to get married to the Notary, thus pushing further the conflict between the Cupbearer and the Notary that begins with a dispute over a wall and a legal threat.

Because of the hordes of eastern European friends I had in college, the cinema of countries such as Russia, Bulgaria, Poland and the Ukraine is not unfamiliar to me. Zemsta, however, is the first non-Russian comedy I have seen and I was tickled by both the wit of the characters and the absurdity of the situation. And yet, unlike the Russian comedies I have seen which center around a certain fondness for a certain type of drink, this was expressly funny without being involving or about copious swigs of alcohol. From the hapless Papkin to the sensual niece to the scheming Notary, the cast of characters was put together with the express intent of causing the maximum chaos. And indeed, Andrzej Wajda has succeeded in creating a true masterpiece of comedy. Charming in its accurate portrayal of 18th century Poland – down to the remarkable hair cuts – and deceptively simple in its humour, it is a feast for both the eyes and the mind.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much I can say without giving away the plot other than it’s worth watching and good on you if you can get your hands on it.

The only possible way it could be funnier is if it were a Bollywood number, complete with song and dance of which Polanski gives us one possible rendition.

NB: Some spoilers follow, particularly in the links.

I had a chance to see a special preview of The Golden Compass on Saturday evening. The Golden Compass is based on the first book in Philip Pullman‘s His Dark Materials fantasy series, Northern Lights – which I should point out I have not read yet. It’s a classic coming of age story, with the protagonist, Lyra, being abruptly dragged from her sheltered world at Oxford into a battle between free will and the totalitarian government that controls her world. To help her in this quest, she is given the namesake of the story, a golden-coloured compass-shaped device that tells the truth, and a diverse cast of characters.

The main difference between our world and the world of the story is that in the fantasy world, souls are embodied in animals that accompany people around, called daemons. The world is split into three major species – humans, witches (also with companion daemons), and polar bears (which do not have daemons); humans are subject to a totalitarian government known as the Magisterium, the bears serve a monarch, and it’s never known what the witches’ government is. We learn at the beginning of the story that the Magisterium has forbidden the study of a particle known as “The Dust“; we never do learn in this first installment what the Dust actually is – but one major function of the Dust is to function as a doorway between parallel worlds (the fantasy world, our own, worlds without daemons, worlds populated solely with daemons and so on). In this respect, I suppose it’s much like the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics that’s the premise of many novels, including Michael Crichton‘s best-selling Timeline.

Along the way, Lyra has the usual run-ins with brutal kidnappers, seductive mothers and suave rugged knights, even if the knight is in fact a large, rather fuzzy, bear. In fact, it would be a rather run of the mill fantasy movie, if it wasn’t for a few things.

First, Pullman is a most vocal atheist, and in writing his series of books, he angered a number of Christian – particularly Catholic – personae by subtly suggesting that the Magisterium represents the Church. After unsuccessfully racking my brains about what I know about the history of Christianity from the grade I was entertaining the Advanced Humanities class by throwing boulders seventh grade, I turned to Wikipedia and learnt that the Magisterium is the part of the Catholic Church responsible for interpreting and assigning truth to doctrine. In many ways, the religious Magisterium functions as the Magisterium of the books does, except that former has none of the enforcement power of the latter. However, the suggestion that the two were alike, and the desire of the protagonist and her allies to subvert the Magisterium was sufficient to set off a firestorm of vitriol by members of the Christian community.

After seeing the movie (again, I note I haven’t read the book), I can’t see what the fuss is about. The beautiful steampunk world that the movie is set in doesn’t even superficially resemble the Vatican, nor does any of the design begin to hint that the Magisterium is the Church. Whether this is because of an active effort to prevent controversy, or whether the movie was designed without regard for similarity, the movie is as un-Christian as Mulan; the religious aspect truly is irrelevant. The only product of the vitriol has been that more people are likely to go see it to try to determine what the fuss is about. If anything, the net effect will be to then spur the sales of Pullman’s novels, which are apparently far more avowedly atheist than the movie.

Second, Pullman writes – and the movie’s producers bring to life – an incredible world. In Pullman’s world there is a compelling universe of characters, ranging from cunning witches like Serafina Pakkala, to the rugged and honour-bound bear Iorek Byrnison, to the ice-cold Mrs Coulter, to the raggedy band of ruffians called Gyptians that rescue and watch over Lyra. To support this cast of characters, he also writes a huge and wonderful world, which is far more dynamic than is Tolkien‘s Middle-Earth or Rowling‘s Potter-dom. For one, the world itself has many mysteries (like the Dust) and is thus more interactive than is the relatively static world other fantasy novel writers envision. This world has then been brought to life very convincingly in the movie to support the extraordinary cast of characters. I have always had a soft spot, like many geeks, for the industrial age look that the retro-futuristic steampunk world brings, and this world takes the art form to a new level. Other recent steampunk movies include Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and The Prestige.

That is not to say that the story is all roses and no thorns. While the overall artistic vision was gorgeous and the environment more dynamic than even the Lord of the Rings movies from a half-decade ago, the animation was slightly problematic. At least twice I saw tearing where there should have been none, particularly in slow motion shots like when Lyra and Mrs Coulter are in an airship over London. The models were also a lot less distinct than I would have expected for a big-budget movie like this; by contrast, the models used in the independent sci-fi horror movie Sunshine were crisp and highly detailed and suffered from no blur or fuzziness even on a large screen.

The music was… odd. Unlike other movies where the music responds to the level of the on screen action, the music in this movie was occasionally the loudest thing in moments of relative calm on screen and there was silence during moments of hectic chaos. Though I’m fond of her work otherwise, Kate Bush‘s throaty “Lyra” that played as the credits rolled had all the charm and horror of a Thomas Kinkade painting – simply awful all around. Perhaps the DVD release will correct these flaws, but I doubt that the music is going to change.

Moreover, either because the source material is like this, or because the cast of characters is so large, the movie seemed rushed, skipping over, or relegating to a small role, otherwise fantastic actors. I expected to see far more of Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel (who gets a few uninterrupted minutes at the beginning and a 20-second throwaway scene about two-thirds of the way in), Eva Green (who gets less than five minutes of screen time and no character development as the cunning, seductive witch, Serafina Pakkala), and Sam Elliot as Lee Scoresby (again, about five minutes, mainly behind a gun sight with his sole defining characteristic being his accent). The net effective is similar to watching a movie at double speed – in theory possible, in practice quite annoying. While the other two problems can likely be fixed in time for a DVD release, I suspect the end result will still feel hasty.

That said, this is a fantastic movie and one worth watching, if for no reason other than to see the grandeur of the artistic vision and design. It’s highly enjoyable and entirely fun for at least 110 of its 113 minute runtime and it will finish leaving you satisfied with how the tale has gone so far and hungering for the next installment.

8/10 – shame about the music, the graphics and the hasty-ness, but otherwise an excellent, engaging and engrossing film.