WeatherGirl’s Station

Disappointing. Given all the talent involved in this movie it really should have been a whole lot better. I hate the reliance on ‘character impersonation‘, it seems to be used because the writer is lazy and can’t be bothered to create a sophisticated plot that rewards the audience’s attention. Also the trend to cutting movies for the video game generation really pisses me off. Film is a wonderful media, it does not have to impersonate another media to bring audiences in. I actually like to see what is going on. All the quick cutting just frustrates and iritates me.

I’m quite happy to suspend my disbelief for a movie like this but I need a payoff from the movie makers. I’m not an adolescent boy and I’ve been a movie fan since I was 14 years old. How about taking me more seriously as a potential customer who’s prepared to go back and watch a movie multiple times if it’s satisfying enough? Sadly my money doesn’t seem to appeal as much as the next boy’s!

Current temperature 84F/29C

Enjoyable tosh. Although this movie plays it mostly by the numbers I must say I had a great time. Good to see Keifer Sutherland on the big screen once again. Usually this sort of movie relies upon characters not passing along information when they should. Here, though, the First Lady goes to the chief investigator and tells him the truth about what is going on, exactly as someone in that role would. Big cheer for the writer on this point.

Current temperature 84F/29C

A Spike Lee movie I liked!!!!!!! Don’t all faint with surprise. Taut thriller that twists and turns this way and that, and includes cultural commentary without being too heavy handed. Strong performances from the leads. I especially liked seeing Jody Foster play a rather despicable character. Enjoyed the visual style too.

Current temperature 63F/17C

Sentimental … but not too sickly sweet. I rather enjoyed this even though it was quite predictable. Kurt Russell plays these ‘dad’ parts really well.

Current temperature 63F/17C

Slick. A comic book movie that’s full of ideas and challenges you to think about what’s going on. Just what is the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter and are we obliged to act when it involves using means that might be dubious at best? There’s some disturbing material here to challenge us.

Hated Natalie Portman’s English accent. Quite frankly, I’d rather have a great performance with an American accent than a half arsed attempt at a British accent. A line of dialogue could have explained the whole thing away.

Current temperature 66F/19C

Predictable. Isn’t Mr Ford getting a little old for this sort of thing? Nice to see Chloe from 24 in a movie although what the hell was happening with her hair, who knows! Pedestrian and by the numbers, with Brit bad guy, even I could write this script. (There was some compensatory eye candy in among the bad guys so it was not a completely wasted two hours.)

Current temperature 68F/20C

Why should the boys have all the fun? Phi just acquired a digital SLR and is now ‘borrowing’ my Canon lens to test drive his new camera before committing to a particular lens.

Having got a little fed up with having to lug around my Canon EOS with it’s zoom lens if I wanted to take pictures I’ve invested in an itsy bitsy tiny weeny digital camera, that weighs barely anything, and fits neatly into my bag with all my other stuff. A Panasonic DMC-FX9 to be exact and boy is it tiny! Scarily so. I had intended to buy a FX8, but since the FX9 was out and still sounded good in the online reviews I found, I went for the newer model. Here’s a photo from my first test drive. (Autoflash was on and there’s been no tweaking of the image.)

There were a couple of reasons for my choice that mostly came from watching Nic with his Canon Powershot A80.

• The view finder was a waste of time and you might as well devote as much real estate as you could to the LCD screen.
• It needed to be fast, no siginificant pause between pressing the buton and the photo being taken.
• It needed software that’d handle camera shake effectively.

It looks like the Panasonic handles these with aplomb.

Now I can embark on an epic adventure, where I learn all there is to know about how to use this amazing little gadget to it’s full potential.

And did I mention how fricking small it is?

Current temperature 61F/16C

Brilliant. A great movie that lost out on Oscar night. An intelligent look at a historic event that has a lot to tell us today. Filming in black and white was an astute choice and the visuals are stunning. The use of interludes with the singer Dianne Reeves made for some pointed transitions. The cast was great and I thought letting Joseph McCarthy speak for himself was right on the money. Hoist by his own petard. George Clooney is such a talented guy!

Current temperature 61F/16C