The hotel the wife and I stayed at for her birthday gave us free tickets to the Warren Theatre in the Old Town district of Wichita. Or rather, I paid a little extra to get a "Date Night" package and a pair of tickets were part of the deal. In either case, with it being the weekend before Halloween, the majority of the offerings were horror films; a genre which my wife has negative interest in seeing. That left us with an action-thriller, a biopic, and Cloud Atlas. By the title of this piece, you may have already deduced we chose the latter. I went into it mostly blind, having never read the book and only seeing a teaser trailer and the cast list.
Do you remember reading Catch-22 for [High School/College] lit class? Tom Tykwer and the Wachowski siblings' screen adaptation of Cloud Atlas reminds me a lot of the style of Heller's classic, if not the substance. The focus jumps around at seemingly random intervals, introducing characters in story-lines throughout different points in history. Each of these different time periods seem to be self-contained and cross-referential; such as a young composer in one time period reading the published journal of a young lawyer in another, or an writer's story in one section having a movie adaptation in another.
Let's get the accolades out of the way: it looks amazing. The movie boils down to four period pieces, a dystopian sci-fi piece and a post-apocalyptic piece: even with the three parts that are supposed to be fairly close in time, there are enough differences in the clothing that if you pay attention you can tell which story you're watching by the wardrobe alone. The makeup effects are also amazing, to be expected when each actor is playing multiple parts. The score is wonderful as well, adding to the story rather than distracting from it.
Now, flip the coin. Remember how I said it reminded me of Catch-22? That's not necessarily a good thing. This movie tends to bounce back and forth between its various stories; filling in blanks, and forming new questions in a way that can be not only jarring but downright confusing at times. We never stay on one character or sequence for very long, which is a trick for a movie that clocks in at just under 3 hours.
I really enjoyed the film. I found it thought-provoking and a decent, if not great film. My wife, not so much: she found it a confusing, jumbled mess. It's like someone took six concept albums from the same group and rotated albums between tracks.
Hopefully, when the movie comes out for home viewing, the disc will have an option to show each of the stories separately. There are six enjoyable stories in this movie; and doing it that way will let more people enjoy all of them.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
Making my old desktop functional
I've been without a desktop computer for just longer than a year now.
My laptop has kept me well enough; but there's just something about sitting down in a roller chair and sliding up to a keyboard and mouse in a space of my own that makes me feel like I'm actually getting something accomplished, even when I'm just watching random YouTube videos or browsing TVTropes.
I haven't had a real desk here at the house for about 6 years. My wife had a desk, but it comes back to that space of my own. I had a WalMart special computer stand, a overstuffed chair, and a tray that I used for a mouse stand/drink holder. While the overstuffed chair was comfortable as all get out, it was not particularly conducive to anything I wanted to do beyond watching videos -- too laid back for gaming, too comfortable for coding, too fuzzy for hardware changes.
Last year, however, my office/spare bedroom was taken over by my mother-in-law, niece and nephew. The story of why is too long to go into here (and the details of it are frankly none of your business, faithful reader); but the gist was if MIL didn't have a place to live, the two kids were more than likely going to end up wards of the state. My wife and I were not willing to let that happen while we had a say in the matter, so instead, we let them use the office.
Over time, things have changed. I got rid of my desktop; selling it cheap to an uncle who needed a working box ASAP. The chair is still here, a little worse for wear; and the stand will be heading for the rubbish bin the next time furniture pickup comes around. And, at the beginning of the month, MIL found the means to move out. After cleaning the office (three people in a single room accumulates clutter, despite the best of intentions), I realized that my wife's old desktop... our old desktop actually.. was sitting here unused.
This old Gateway computer (back when you bought from them and they shipped in Holstein boxes) has been around the block a few times, and I've made some effort to keep it running over the last decade. Yes, I said decade. This was a middle of the road PC when we bought it back in the fall of 2002, shortly after my then-fiance moved in with me. After all my upgrades over the years; it's a Pentium 4 @ 1.8GHz; 2GB of RAM; CD RW drive, and an Radeon 9250 (PCI). It's not much, but it's enough for a web browsing machine, or just to keep the radar up during storms. The problem was it had 10 years worth of crap on there; XP updates, programs that never got fully uninstalled, that sort of thing. But the last thing I want to do is spend more money on this beast -- I'd rather save it for a brand new box. So I plugged in an old IDE hard drive (no SATA for you, it didn't come out until the year after I bought this) and made a fresh install of XP (quickly updating it).
It works, and runs pretty well (especially compared to how it did the last time I used it) considering the age. Hopefully, I'll get my new computer bought and built soon, so I can retire this one to file server status.
My laptop has kept me well enough; but there's just something about sitting down in a roller chair and sliding up to a keyboard and mouse in a space of my own that makes me feel like I'm actually getting something accomplished, even when I'm just watching random YouTube videos or browsing TVTropes.
I haven't had a real desk here at the house for about 6 years. My wife had a desk, but it comes back to that space of my own. I had a WalMart special computer stand, a overstuffed chair, and a tray that I used for a mouse stand/drink holder. While the overstuffed chair was comfortable as all get out, it was not particularly conducive to anything I wanted to do beyond watching videos -- too laid back for gaming, too comfortable for coding, too fuzzy for hardware changes.
Last year, however, my office/spare bedroom was taken over by my mother-in-law, niece and nephew. The story of why is too long to go into here (and the details of it are frankly none of your business, faithful reader); but the gist was if MIL didn't have a place to live, the two kids were more than likely going to end up wards of the state. My wife and I were not willing to let that happen while we had a say in the matter, so instead, we let them use the office.
Over time, things have changed. I got rid of my desktop; selling it cheap to an uncle who needed a working box ASAP. The chair is still here, a little worse for wear; and the stand will be heading for the rubbish bin the next time furniture pickup comes around. And, at the beginning of the month, MIL found the means to move out. After cleaning the office (three people in a single room accumulates clutter, despite the best of intentions), I realized that my wife's old desktop... our old desktop actually.. was sitting here unused.
This old Gateway computer (back when you bought from them and they shipped in Holstein boxes) has been around the block a few times, and I've made some effort to keep it running over the last decade. Yes, I said decade. This was a middle of the road PC when we bought it back in the fall of 2002, shortly after my then-fiance moved in with me. After all my upgrades over the years; it's a Pentium 4 @ 1.8GHz; 2GB of RAM; CD RW drive, and an Radeon 9250 (PCI). It's not much, but it's enough for a web browsing machine, or just to keep the radar up during storms. The problem was it had 10 years worth of crap on there; XP updates, programs that never got fully uninstalled, that sort of thing. But the last thing I want to do is spend more money on this beast -- I'd rather save it for a brand new box. So I plugged in an old IDE hard drive (no SATA for you, it didn't come out until the year after I bought this) and made a fresh install of XP (quickly updating it).
It works, and runs pretty well (especially compared to how it did the last time I used it) considering the age. Hopefully, I'll get my new computer bought and built soon, so I can retire this one to file server status.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Keyboard rant
I've noticed something about my Microsoft Digital Media keyboard.
A lot of the buttons go unused.
I'm not talking about the big three that very few people use (PrtScn/SysRq, Scroll Lock, and Pause/Break). For me, the Print Screen button actually gets a workout, because I like to document stuff (especially when something breaks). So does the Windows/Super/Start button. Heck, even the quick start button for the Calculator gets into the act -- even if the other program quick-keys don't.
I do miss the media player control buttons, though I suppose with a little tweaking in Debian or actually loading the drivers in Windows, I could set the ominous 1-5 buttons that sit unused to actually do something. But at least my volume controls and mute button work. The zoom lever's function is a mystery to me, though I haven't tried it out in GIMP or IE yet.
But in designing this keyboard, Microsoft added 12 new keys. But the problem was, they didn't actually add them to the keyboard. That would imply a new block of keys to ignore. No... they took a cue from laptop designers and overlayed the function keys with new functions.
Adding new keys to a keyboard -- especially mutlimedia keys and quick start keys -- is not a new thing. Heck, I've got an old IBM-branded keyboard with a quick-start button hand-labeled Lotus 1-2-3. Overwriting -- more accurately modifying keys so the original function now requires a meta-keystroke (i.e. Alt+, Ctrl+, or Win+) -- is a bit harder to get used to.
So I have a new favorite button: the "F Lock" button. The F Lock button's purpose is simple: toggle between the traditional F1-F12 keys and the new ... Office-related? ... keys. Truthfully, the keyboard reminds me of that chipboard keyboard template that used to come with WordPerfect and flight sims, that described what each key did. Because now, instead of F4, you get "New". F10 is Spell, which I assume is spell checker.
Now, don't get me wrong. I don't have a problem with these functions being mapped to their own buttons. And on this keyboard, it's easy enough to treat it like I have the Number Pad for years: make sure NumLock is on when I sit down, and go like normal. Even better, the new key behaviour is clearly marked, with the new function names printed on top of the button, and the traditional F Keys on the side as fits the demoted status. The F Lock key makes it possible for touch-typists to continue to use the keyboard unimpeded -- especially those of us used to using keyboard shortcuts that included the Function Keys. So kudos to Microsoft: you extended the functionality of a design while leaving legacy functionality accessible to power users.
So why am I praising Microsoft in this; even if it is a bit backhandedly? My wife just (past 6 months) bought an HP Pavilion laptop, and I had to use it to look something up for her right quick -- specifically needing to refresh the page to check the information. Being a touch-typist, I set up on home row and hit the F5 key. Which promptly took me back to the browser's home page.
The keyboard on her laptop has also overwritten the function keys; and the F5 is now a globe, which is really my second complaint with the design: I know there's limited space, but why the icons instead of
words? On my keyboard, there is a browser launch button: it's icon mirrors the "Home" button from IE, but it's still labeled "Web/Home". In fact, the only buttons without an explicit label are the big silver 1-5 buttons, which I still assume are programmable; and the volume control buttons. But the globe button -- which is a good representation of "start a browser", not so much "return to the home page" -- being where the Refresh button should be? For anyone not already familiar with the way HP designed their keyboard, they're going to be frustrated and upset.
And it doesn't have an F-Lock (or, with their labeling convention, an "fn-Lock") key. [In fairness, the MSFT keyboard doesn't have a single-use key; so you can't easily switch between functions.] So now, a hard refresh (Ctrl+F5) is a three-finger salute (fn+Ctrl+F5). Same with closing (fn+Alt+F4) or maximizing (fn+Alt+F10) a window. I would wager that while this point was raised with someone on the design team at some point, the response was "But who actually uses the function keys?" And truthfully, they're probably right. For the rest of us, though; instead of Ctrl+S, Alt-F4, I may go back to ":wq" instead.
A lot of the buttons go unused.
I'm not talking about the big three that very few people use (PrtScn/SysRq, Scroll Lock, and Pause/Break). For me, the Print Screen button actually gets a workout, because I like to document stuff (especially when something breaks). So does the Windows/Super/Start button. Heck, even the quick start button for the Calculator gets into the act -- even if the other program quick-keys don't.
I do miss the media player control buttons, though I suppose with a little tweaking in Debian or actually loading the drivers in Windows, I could set the ominous 1-5 buttons that sit unused to actually do something. But at least my volume controls and mute button work. The zoom lever's function is a mystery to me, though I haven't tried it out in GIMP or IE yet.
But in designing this keyboard, Microsoft added 12 new keys. But the problem was, they didn't actually add them to the keyboard. That would imply a new block of keys to ignore. No... they took a cue from laptop designers and overlayed the function keys with new functions.
Adding new keys to a keyboard -- especially mutlimedia keys and quick start keys -- is not a new thing. Heck, I've got an old IBM-branded keyboard with a quick-start button hand-labeled Lotus 1-2-3. Overwriting -- more accurately modifying keys so the original function now requires a meta-keystroke (i.e. Alt+, Ctrl+, or Win+) -- is a bit harder to get used to.
So I have a new favorite button: the "F Lock" button. The F Lock button's purpose is simple: toggle between the traditional F1-F12 keys and the new ... Office-related? ... keys. Truthfully, the keyboard reminds me of that chipboard keyboard template that used to come with WordPerfect and flight sims, that described what each key did. Because now, instead of F4, you get "New". F10 is Spell, which I assume is spell checker.
Now, don't get me wrong. I don't have a problem with these functions being mapped to their own buttons. And on this keyboard, it's easy enough to treat it like I have the Number Pad for years: make sure NumLock is on when I sit down, and go like normal. Even better, the new key behaviour is clearly marked, with the new function names printed on top of the button, and the traditional F Keys on the side as fits the demoted status. The F Lock key makes it possible for touch-typists to continue to use the keyboard unimpeded -- especially those of us used to using keyboard shortcuts that included the Function Keys. So kudos to Microsoft: you extended the functionality of a design while leaving legacy functionality accessible to power users.
So why am I praising Microsoft in this; even if it is a bit backhandedly? My wife just (past 6 months) bought an HP Pavilion laptop, and I had to use it to look something up for her right quick -- specifically needing to refresh the page to check the information. Being a touch-typist, I set up on home row and hit the F5 key. Which promptly took me back to the browser's home page.
The keyboard on her laptop has also overwritten the function keys; and the F5 is now a globe, which is really my second complaint with the design: I know there's limited space, but why the icons instead of
words? On my keyboard, there is a browser launch button: it's icon mirrors the "Home" button from IE, but it's still labeled "Web/Home". In fact, the only buttons without an explicit label are the big silver 1-5 buttons, which I still assume are programmable; and the volume control buttons. But the globe button -- which is a good representation of "start a browser", not so much "return to the home page" -- being where the Refresh button should be? For anyone not already familiar with the way HP designed their keyboard, they're going to be frustrated and upset.
And it doesn't have an F-Lock (or, with their labeling convention, an "fn-Lock") key. [In fairness, the MSFT keyboard doesn't have a single-use key; so you can't easily switch between functions.] So now, a hard refresh (Ctrl+F5) is a three-finger salute (fn+Ctrl+F5). Same with closing (fn+Alt+F4) or maximizing (fn+Alt+F10) a window. I would wager that while this point was raised with someone on the design team at some point, the response was "But who actually uses the function keys?" And truthfully, they're probably right. For the rest of us, though; instead of Ctrl+S, Alt-F4, I may go back to ":wq" instead.
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