The Matrix runs Windows

I can’t believe that nobody has done a “Which OS does the Matrix run on?”.

It’s obviously Windows though.

The following points are quite telling:

  1. Glitches occur in the Matrix whenever you change something.
  2. It is easy to hack into the Matrix.
  3. DRM software built-in tries to rid you of Morpheus.
  4. Microsoft created the Agent software (http://www.microsoft.com/msagent/default.asp).
  5. The User Interface is like having a giant metal spike shoved into the back of your head.

Also the original movie had many windows crashing, a clearly meaningful, if not subliminal, message about the Matrix origin.

BBSpot Mailbag, via Phil

Politics in the Matrix?

While I’ll be adding this to the collection of links on my [Matrix: Reloaded post], I wanted to call special attention to it — a very interesting post looking at possible [political undercurrents to the Matrix franchise]:

The way the Matrix Reloaded points out the multiple layers of control built into society is perhaps the most potent of the messages it carries. Its one thing to make people aware of the first layer of control. Its far more powerful to make them aware of the way that a built in “resistance” can be used to solidify the power structure.

These are powerful seeds for any campaign to make the American public aware of the way the Bush administration is using the rhetoric and the media to sell a system of control. The left has been pushing these ideas for decades now, and general public couldn’t give a fuck. Thanks to the Wachowski the ideas are now seething through the subconscious of the suburbs. And its far to soon to guess at what the ramifications are.

(via Doc Searls)

Black Hawk Down

Wow — excellent, powerful, and frightening film. When Black Hawk Down first came out, I avoided seeing it — while I heard from many people that it was good, I was a bit overly cynical as to whether it was getting good reviews because it was actually a good movie, or because the US was in the process of bombing Afghanistan, and a patriotic “rah rah” movie was reaping the rewards of jingoistic fervor.

Let me be the first to say that I sorely underestimated the film, the reasons for its good reviews, and the reviews themselves. Overall, I think a healthy dose of cynicism is a good thing, but this time I seem to have taken it a bit far. Ah, well, everyone makes mistakes occasionally. BHD is actually a gut-wrenching account of a disastrous mission in Somalia that stretched from a planned hour-long insertion and retrieval into around seventeen hours of hell. Not at all pleasant to watch, but excellently done, and very powerful.

There’s what looks to be an excellent newspaper series on the events portrayed in BHD from the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Mark Bowden: Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War.

With stripes!

Xander: Hey! Buffy!

Willow: You missed it!

Buffy: Missed what?

Xander: We just saw the zebras mating, thank you, very exciting.

Willow: It was like the Heimlich — with stripes!

— Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ‘The Pack

I missed the next few lines of the show after that, I was laughing so hard.

XXX

Okay, yeah, so everyone told me it was a bad movie. I just wanted to find out for myself. And whaddaya know — they were right! A willing suspension of disbelief is one thing, but when the fight scenes in both Matrix films pay more attention to the laws of physics than the stunts in XXX, it’s really not a good sign (and that thought hit me in the first twenty minutes of the film).

Ah, well. It killed a couple hours, and there were plenty of scantily-clad women scattered throughout the film to ease the pain a little bit. Too bad the female lead looked like a strung out Juliette Lewis, though.

The Matrix has me!

I’ve been in complete Matrix mode for most of this weekend — saw the sequel Thursday night, watched the original yesterday with Prairie, and then went back to see the sequel again tonight.

I’ve also been going through the discussion thread on the Home Theater Forum (all 20-some pages of it so far!), and in addition to a lot of very interesting conversation about the film, many good links have been posted. I’ve added quite a few of those to the end of my movie post, so if you’re as caught up in all this as I am, you might enjoy poking around some of them.

Lastly, an amusing post from the forementioned discussion thread…

I’m entirely baffled how anyone can characterize this as the WORST Movie/WORST sequel of all time

Many people

  • don’t see a lot of movies
  • have a short memory or attention span, so they give more weight to recent events
  • have a poor vocabulary
  • have no sense of scale or nuance, as evidenced by the typical “sucks”/”rules” dichotomy
  • can’t hold two seemingly contradictory thoughts in their head at the same time
  • are unable to balance their high expectations in an objective appraisal
  • are idiots
  • are about as useful as a Duracell
  • some of the above
  • all of the above

— Ken Chan

The Matrix: Reloaded

Just got back from seeing The Matrix: Reloaded. In short, I’m quite satisfied with what I was presented with. At the same time, I can certainly understand why so many middling to flat out bad reviews have been popping up in the last few days. I don’t think that this is the sequel that people were really expecting, and I think that that is what is affecting many of the reviews. For my part, the fact that the story is moving in ways that weren’t expected is exactly the reason I enjoyed it, and I’m really looking forward to seeing the final chapter in six months or so.

Briefly, I’d definitely recommend it — on three conditions.

First: Realize that this, much like Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, is not a self-contained movie. It doesn’t answer all the questions it raises, and ends on a cliffhanger. Thankfully, it’s a relatively short wait for the next and final chapter.

Second: Don’t expect a standard-formula Hollywood sequel. Don’t turn off your brain when you go in (one of the things I enjoy about these movies is that they provide brain food as well as good eye candy), but don’t head in with too many preconceived notions and expectations, either.

Third: Probably the most important, this is not a movie to go into cold. I’d highly recommend watching The Matrix beforehand, if you’re not already fairly familiar with the first film in the series. The Matrix: Reloaded builds and expands upon the foundation laid in The Matrix, but without some familiarity with the first film, it’d be fairly easy to get lost, especially towards the end. Optionally, if you have the time/bandwidth to do so, reading through the comics (especially ‘Bits and Pieces‘) and watching the Animatrix episodes ‘The Second Renaissance, Part One and Part Two to get some historical background of the Man/Machine conflict and the creation of the Matrix. More thoughts…more loosely structured, and ripe with possibilities for expansion and further exploration later on.

Firstly, just to get it out of the way, the effects are 95% of what they were hyped to be. There were a few instances in the “burly brawl” (where Neo is fighting upwards of 100 Agent Smiths) that didn’t quite look right, but overall, mindboggling work. So. Done. Now on to the more interesting stuff.

The Matrix set the ground rules, but The Matrix: Reloaded is rewriting them. Not disregarding them, but fleshing them out and re-interpreting them, finding the loopholes in the rules that were previously written and exploiting them, while still remaining true to the core story. Fascinating to watch, and a big part of why I believe that this isn’t a “safe”, normal Hollywood sequel.

Lots of interesting questioning of beliefs, and how much beliefs (or conflicting beliefs) really matter. Early in the film, Morpheus is having an argument with one of his superiors. After Morpheus expresses his belief in Neo as “The One” and in Neo’s ability to save everyone, his superior says, “Not everyone believes what you do.” Morpheus responds, “My beliefs don’t require them to.” A little later on, Link (one of the new characters) is getting ready to leave with Morpheus and the gang. His wife, not thrilled that he’s leaving, gives him a necklace for luck. “Aw, come on, you know that I don’t believe in all that…” he complains. “But I do,” she tells him, and gives him the necklace. I thought both scenes were nicely done.

Three key scenes that I’d like to watch quite a few more times to work my way through the various ideas and concepts presented, just to make sure I understood them all: the Merovingian’s monologue in the restaurant regarding choice and cause/effect; the conversation between Neo and the Oracle in the playground where we learn more about the Oracle’s role in the Matrix; and the revelations regarding the Matrix given to Neo towards the end of the film. Lots of information is presented fairly quickly in those three scenes, and they each bear some re-watching.

A very interesting (and very spoiler filled, don’t read this before seeing the movie) rundown of the events in the film is up at The Hot Button (via this (spoiler-filled) HTF thread). There are a few other Matrix articles up on the same site, all linked to at the bottom of that Hot Button page. It’s worth reading them all.

This is good for a giggle.

Salon’s review is excellent (both a positive review of the film, and a well-written review).

A transcript of the conversation between Neo and the Architect can be found here.

Dad sent me this article from Beliefnet exploring some of the religious symbolism in the Matrix films.

Local Seattle alternative paper reviews: The Stranger and the Seattle Weekly.

Another nice point to the movie: when Trinity has some hacking to do, instead of flashy 3D “movie style” graphic displays, she calls up a command line and uses the real-world nmap utility! I noticed this and grinned while I was watching the film, and other people are picking up on it too. The Register has an article about it, too.

The New Yorker’s pan of The Matrix: Reloaded, and The Hot Button’s rebuttal (snide, but has some good points).

A good analysis of religious symbolism here.

Something amusing: MatrixXP. ;)

Thanks to Kirsten for this Salon article: The Matrix way of Knowledge.

Not In Our Name wants you to take the red pill.

Abstract Dynamics points out possible political undertones.

The teaser for The Matrix: Revolutions has hit the ‘net.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Thoroughly enjoyable! Not really a lot to it, all told (Greek-American girl meets American boy, boy has to cope with her very proudly Greek family), but a quite pleasant and silly movie. When Dad was telling me about it after he saw it, he compared it to his family — having survived (and enjoyed) a couple family reunions, I can definitely see the parallels. While our middle-American roots aren’t quite the same as the Greek roots in the movie’s family, in many ways, a big family is a big family, no matter what their heritage…and I think I’m glad I don’t have 27 first cousins! Anyway, definitely worth a rent.