Kaputt

My computer has been ailing for some time now, and it seems to have chosen to go fully kaputt today. That is most unfortunate. After checking it, it seems to me that the problem is caused at least in part by the thermal grease under the CPU which has hardened into something akin to hardened thermal gunk. It is clearly time for some servicing. This will be the first time I had to replace the stuff, but well there's always a first time for everything. I find it interesting that the average lifespan of my computers is around 3 years. After 3 years in my service, a computer will have some sort of critical failure that will require major servicing. After that, something usually fails altogether and that's when I call for a complete overhaul. By that time the system's usually sufficiently old that it needs some sprucing up anyway. The timing is a little unfortunate this time, seeing as how I am trying to save up for some major expenses, and I'd probably need to get on with real servicing rather than replacing the system altogether. Fortunately, I don't actually feel the need for a replacement considering how system requirements for games do not appear to have increased all that much in the recent years, so my system tackles the newer releases rather well.

Small Towner

I remember those movies where a small towner comes out to the big city to seek their fortune. I remember how inspirational those movies felt, somethin of a coming of age story. Strangely, after thinking it over, I realize that the reason such movies resonated with me was 'coz I pretty much felt the exact same way. A strange thing, considering that I'm from a large city myself, with a population of millions. The difference here is that the city is more like an island, with a woeful lack of greater exposure. Overall I dare say that I seek that exposure, and to broaden my horizons. I know it will be tough, but well thta's part and parcel of growing up. How odd that I should feel this.

A Night Walk

I had another night walk with friends yesterday and it was quite refreshing. I think there's something to be said for safe streets, where one may roam without excessive fear. I do find it relaxing to hang out by the waterfront and take my time to shoot photographs. Sadly, I find myself unable to really do that sort of thing by day anymore. Partly work commitments and well it gets rather difficult to focus when dealing with getting burned to a crisp and battling the heat. It leaves little energy for one to focus, let alone really relax and take shots at leisure. After a nice stroll from 11pm till 3 in the morning, we figured it'd be a good time to call it a night. Hell one of em was just about ready to pass out, but I wouldn't complain. Doing the night outing isn't really natural for most folk, so one has to respect that. Likewise for dragging me out of bed at dawn for some outing. That'd just be rather nasty. Regardless, I find myself enjoying such outings way more than other more conventional options like going out for a drink, dancing or shopping.

Madagascar 3

Now, I've watched the first Madagascar and thought that while it was sweet, it was just another happy kids show with a fairly predictable plot. I went to this movie expecting something similar (or typically worse considering that it's a sequel) and came out of it pleasantly surprised. Mad 3 was a visual feast, perhaps epilepsy inducing in parts, but overall highly enjoyable. The movie shows a high level of visual polish combined with a predictable but uplifting plot that manages to alternate between joy and sorrow while ending on a sweet note. I guess I've become somewhat jaded over time and no longer find such tales tugging at my heart strings anymore, but I do recognize a reasonably good narrative when I see one and the references to other animated films (think Up! and such) makes it worth a watch. Sadly, as much as I liked this film relative to the first, it is not quite in the league of the likes of How To Train Your Dragon. Perhaps Brave would fill that gap in my heart. Regardless, I would happily assign this one a 7.5/10.

Conceptual Distances

Humans have interesting concepts of distance, where the conceptual distance of a space can significantly exced objective distance. The presence of a threshold is an econceptual obstacle, which increases distance.  I have observed that when some friends are given a route that requires multiple transfers i  commute, they complain that the objective is out of the way, even though the time spent or objective distance traveled proves to be far from considerable.  This constantly confuses me, given how easy it is to get objective measures of such distances. I am loath to fall back on the convenient reasoning that humans are at their core lazy and thus prone to irrational thought shortcuts, but it certainly appears to be the case here.

Prometheus Vs Aliens

There's beauty in simplicity, and the Aliens franchise is no different. I've been thinking about just why Prometheus fell apart while the rest of the franchise managed to largely hold together, however simple and possibly shallow the whole xenomorph thing was. The original premise was that the xenomorphs were an apparently biomechanoid hive creatures that reproduced by parasiting other species. Prometheus attempts to expand upon this mythology, with very little success. Just what went wrong? If we were to consider the original Alien, it was fairly clear that the xenomorph gained biomass by infecting hosts and growing. In the later movies, the reveal of the Queen simply helped to flesh out the rest of the xenomorph life cycle. When Prometheus tried to explain the origin of the xenomorph and how it related to humans, the attempt was a tad convoluted and lost plausibility as a result. The flow seems to be as follows: The xenomorph began as a microbial goop bioweapon. If it infects a Jockey, it either causes spontaneous disintegration at the DNA level, or causes the Jockey's head to explode. The goop itself transforms regular worms into a serpentine facehugger. This serpentine facehugger apparently burrows down a human gullet to zombiefy it. Doesn't appear to do anything else. If the xenomicrobe were to infect a human, the human can mate with another human to impregnate the female with a squidlike facehugger. The human apparently dies after this, outcome unknown. This facehugger spontaneously gains biomass (????) and can implant itself in the Jockey race in order to create the first true xenomorph queen. Now, such a convoluted series of combinations does little to help with the xenomorph mythos simply because each stage raises fresh questions. It would probably have been more elegant to line the life stages up, whereby the goop infests a worm, which turns into a serpent which infests a human and becomes a facehugger which eventually infects a Jockey and forms the first xenomorph queen. With the various branches presented in the movie, questions are raised like: What, exactly does the zombie human do? Why did the infested Jockey's head explode when reanimated, yet causes the other Jockey to disintegrate when imbibed? Where did the squid xenomorph get its biomass, and why is that biomass required in the first place? Finally, if the Jockeys knew that the xenomorph goop was exceedingly dangerous (nearly resulting in the extinction of a species that's apparently biologically identical to humans), why did they insist on bringing the goop to earth to eliminate the other humans? Ultimately, the attempt at creating a more diversified application for the original xenomorph bioweapon opened a can of worms (pun intended) and really doesn't help in clarifying premise of the series. At this point, I'll also contribute my weird interpretation of the thing: The "Engineers" or "Space Jockeys" are basically Space Marines, from Warhammer 40k. We know this from the great height and strength, and the black carapace on the humanoid's torso. Clearly an unarmored and unarmed Astartes. What you find in the canopic jars are really virus bomb goop. We know this because it causes a horrible reek (emission of flammable gases) in an infected human, followed by spontaneous explosion of the head. It disintegrates biomass (Jockey disintegration), presumably releasing the same gases. At some point, all biomass on the planet will decay, causing the atmosphere to be filled with flammable gases, facilitating exterminatus. The last surviving Space Marine simply wished to launch the shuttle to Terra in order to complete the virus bombing, but failed. Of course, credit must be given where due, and I think Prometheus had some fine attention to visual detail. All the facehugger prototypes had some aspect of its vagino-phallic reproductive organ. The Space Jockey seat was very clearly explained, and the way the pilot fit in that strange humanoid sculpture explained just why there was a humanoid aboard a xenomorph ship, and just how the xenomorphs are associated with humans. I actually did spend most of the movie oogling the details and seeing how they try to fit in with the original Alien series.

Prometheus

I watched Prometheus today. I went to the movie with high expectations, considering that it's Ridley Scott again, doing the Aliens thing...again. How could it possibly go wrong? Well, despite its best attempts to do things right, the story just didn't hold together. I would presume that Prometheus started off as an attempt at explaining the origins of the xenomorphs and humanity, and perhaps telling us about the Jockey while we're at it. Unfortunately, the movie came across more like a shoddy attempt at tying up the story, winding up with more loose ends than it began with. So basically the Weyland guys fly over to a distant earthlike planet to discover what it's all about, and then discover that the planet's mostly deserted. This time, it doesn't exactly seem to be the xenomorphs that are responsible. Unfortunately, it seems that this potential to evolve the narrative has been squandered, and instead of trying to establish a coherent origin story, the narrative feels more like a mishmash of strange infections and outcomes that have no apparent relation to one another. Granted, this movie may be intended to be a two part experience and perhaps all would be explained in the second film, the current form is quite simply unable to stand by itself. I find this greatly disappointing. Overall I'd say the movie gets a 5.5/10 from me. I would've graded it lower for squandering the potential it has, but I guess it's points for effort at depicting a different form of the xenomorphs and just what the Jockey had in relation to the monsters. Unfortunately, the woeful lack of proper character development prevents any appreciation of just what's going on, and just makes the film feel like a rather nicely detailed action flick that is short of most of the action. I'd write a comparison between Alien and Prometheus next, to highlight just what's off about the whole shebang, but be warned that spoilers will be included.

Routines

If you remember my earlier post on feeling generally unmotivated, I think I may have figured out the cause of my depression: I am sinking into a routine. This has happened several times in my life, when I find myself grinding to a halt, and I can barely countenance seeing another day. It is during these times that I seriously consider suicide or at the very least withdrawing from humanity yet again. The issue here is not that something in particular is upsetting me, things like another person or work pressures or the like. It's the general feeling that I am stagnating and living life as a routine, doing the same or similar things over and over again. Given that the marginal differences of each day are minimal, my days blend into one another and I get an overpowering impression that I am in fact wasting my life away. I recall that when I was younger, one of my key comforts in life was the library. This may sound strange, but social contact is just draining and libraries are perfect places to hang out with something meaningful without having to interact with people. The library is where I can sail away on tomes of random knowledge, and on to flights of fancy with a novel at hand. Libraries really are remarkable places. Thinking back, I realize that I've recently taken to regarding libraries and books in general as repositories of narratives and escapist fantasy. While that was an aspect of my comfort, it was never the complete solution. I thirst for knowledge, and right now I am not learning nearly as much as I wish to. So here I am, sitting around listening to random Nine Inch Nails tracks for the ambiance, thinking about what such music tends to awaken in me. Ultimately, I feel a renewed sense of purpose, and I think I should go hermit for a while. Take some time away from the humans, and go back to my solitude. At the very least it'll be a rather cathartic experience, and restorative in the very least. When I think about the night walks I've always enjoyed, I realize that they are effectively an exercise in getting myself a dose of solitude while simultaneously discovering some part of the city each time. Even despite that, I find myself going into a routine by visiting a single place too often, and basically I can foresee running out of novel places to visit in my vicinity. The solution there, obviously, will be a change of scene.

Dark Shadows

Ordinarily, I wouldn't watch a vampire movie, let alone one that looked like Dark Shadows. Unfortunately it was Johnny Depp so I just had to sneak a peek. I did not watch the original Dark Shadows tv series, so my take will be completely based on my personal observations of the film itself. The film is a fine exercise in highlighting the differences between our era, the 70's and a goodly 200 years back, with all that entails. From other reviews that compared the film to the series, it's apparent that the film did not live up to its heritage. Unfortunately, I am a horrible gauge of bad acting, so I cannot comment on just how flat a character may appear. I did like that Depp's delivery of the character was leaning rather more heavily on the deadpan rather than an emotive struggle to come to terms with one's inhuman condition and romance. Frankly, I didn't mind that performance, seeing as how it would've been how I'd have reacted regardless. That said, the overall narrative was somewhat predictable and there was little that was particularly intriguing in the characters. I'd say the movie, despite Depp (sorry, Depp) was mediocre at best and earns a nice 6.5/10. Not bad, but certainly nowhere near great.