Checksum Arcanius

I kicked my 8-movie SIFF run off on Wednesday with “Shake Hands with the Devil,” a documentary about the return of Canadian Leuitenant General Romeo Dallaire, commander of the UN forces in Rwanda in 1994, to the land that was ravaged by genocide as he watched helpless, undermanned, underfunded, and ignored by the whole world. It was an excellent compliment to the also excellent Hotel Rwanda, also recommended.

(warning: if you have been hiding in a hole for a while, the following may contain spoilers)
The second (or is that first?) Star Wars Trilogy had the potential of being something truly amazing. An epic with love, war, death and betrayal – what could possibly go wrong?

Well… the dialogue for one. Read the rest of this entry »

I recently bought the DVD of Primer, probably the most thought-provoking movie I have ever watched in the Sci-Fi genre, and a worty recipient of the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury award in 2004. I have already seen it twice – first, at the Seattle International Film Festival last year, and then at a Seattle screening several months later. The first time, I made it through about the first third of the movie before becoming completely lost. Though lost, the rest was still fascinating. The second time, I fared better, making it through the second third of the movie before I was overtaken. Last night, the third time through, and aided by PowerDVD’s ability to rewind and replay important conversations or plot developments, I for the first time felt that I understood most of the movie. Certainly, I will need a few more tries at it before I really figure out the subtleties of the Primer universe, but I finally understood (I think) the idea behind the “failsafe machine,” and who the narrator really was – important details like this that had eluded me before. My next project in this regard is to watch the movie with the director’s commentary to learn what I can from that. Then maybe the cast commentary, though I’m doubtful if that will be helpful. Then maybe, I will finally get it. Or maybe not, and thats what makes it so much fun.

Recent events

85/100 on Circuits test… Not exactly what I would have hoped for, but better than I was expecting after I screwed up the op-amps. I’ve gotta kick it into a higher gear here soon, if I want to pull out of the mid-B rut that I’ve gotten myself into in the class.

Started building an ROV with Dan Marsh and the TRC. For more, see Dan’s post about it.

Collecting parts for a future SRS Robo-Magellan entry. Recently picked up a GPS reciever module (thanks to Dan for the tip). The module requires an active antenna, so I went looking for a good one, and settled on the Mighty Mouse II, a high gain, low power active antenna that rocks my socks. An especially big shout out to Tri-M Systems for working with me to help get the unit from Canada to the TRC quickly and efficiently. Go buy their stuff, yo!

Saw Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy twice in two days. Once was plenty, but a combination of circumstance and commitment led me to watching it a second time. Suffice it to say that it’s not one of those movies that gets better the second time through. I didn’t hate it the first time, though, and the second time, though not anywhere near wonderful, was not bad, and the company (Shai and Beth) was good too.

Installed a 9-in-4 card reader in my desktop computer. The unit was recieved from Dan along with a wired USB optical mouse in exchange for a Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse Explorer that wasn’t well-suited for gaming due to miniscule but noticable start-up lag times, and wasn’t well suited for a laptop due to its battery requirements. I think the trade was mutually beneficial. Everyone shoudl trade more, its good for everyone involved (but if I went too much further down this line of thought, I’d have to add this to the political category as well).

Began helping Erik set up his new dedicated server. Debian Linux is a good distro. It should go back to #1, yo. Silverfir.net, and perhaps TitanRobotics.net, will host some of their websites on the new server as well. The server is from ServerPronto, and its a good price for a dedicated server with the specs it boasts. We’ll see how it holds up once Erik’s proxy servers get going.

Played Ultimate Frisbee at the UW’s intramural field 1 on Friday with the team of Bobby, Jake, Joe, and others. We lost by a point to an evenly matched team, which seems to be the story of my ultimate life. It was good fun, however. Afterwards, we hung out at the UW until seeing Hitchhiker’s for the first time.

Went to a doctor Thursday morning. I have low blood pressure. Nothing too serious, though, apparently. I can eat more salt. Is this a good thing?

Talked to Scott about the upcoming bike trip.

After seeing the robot off into the hands of the FedEx guy to 1:30 today, Dan and I went into Seattle to eat, walk Alki beach, and eventually, watch Constantine at the Cinerama. I had read a review in the Seattle Times that, though not exactly lauding, piqued my interest, so I decided it was worth a shot, and most any movie is better in the Cinerama.

And the choice was a good one. Though Dan didn’t think too much of it except for the special effects, I quite liked just about everything about the movie. Maybe it has something to do with my own internal search for truth; I don’t know. But Keanu Reeves was the right man for this role, and the theology behind the movie was intriguing, to say the least. The movie could have been extraordinarily silly, but for me, somehow, it stayed on the right side of the line, and instead I found it fun, exciting, and very much worth the day away from work.

As a way to relax a little after some intense roboticizing, and in preperation for more intense roboticizing tomorrow and Sunday, I rented the movie Cellular, in hopes that it would be a mostly mindless fun flick. My hopes were fulfilled and I enjoyed the movie a good deal (though it insn’t anything I’m gonna watch again soon). It required only mild suspension of belief, and it mixed a fun plot with enough action and emotional displays to keep me interested. Overall, a good movie for vegging out at the end of the week.

Is such a good movie. Go watch it.