Atomic Playboy

These are links I found interesting for 26/01 through 30/01:

• GlimmerBlocker — pAd blocker for Safari implemented as a non-intrusive proxy./p
• Noscope | Journal | Extra Image Tags Plugin — pThis is a very minimalistic WordPress plugin, which finds all images you insert into your posts, and wrap them in extra 's, so you can style the hell out of them./p
• The $300 Million Button — p”It's hard to imagine a form that could be simpler: two fields, two buttons, and one link. Yet, it turns out this form was preventing customers from purchasing products from a major e-commerce site, to the tune of $300,000,000 a year. What was even worse: the designers of the site had no clue there was even a problem.”/p
• Cops Talk Funny — p”From recruits in academies to senior officers and command staff, you talk funny when you take the stand. Is it in the water at the academies; is there a secret society where you're taught this special language?”/p
• Videogames outsell DVD and Blu-ray in 2008 — pRetail sales of videogames overtook that of DVD and Blu-ray for the first time, as sales of packaged media grew 6 per cent worldwide to hit USD 61 billion in 2008, according to Media Control GfK International./p

Some thoughts about video. Video is outrageously complex and technical, even when you’re doing it correctly and you have no commercial interest in confusing your customers. On my desk is a plain old DVD that I rented from the local video store over the weekend; it proudly proclaims to be “MASTERED IN HIGH DEFINITION!” Whatever that means, it does not mean that it’s anything but a plain old DVD. The marketing of “high definition” content that actually is high definition (at least, higher than plain old DVDs) is even worse. Will you get high definition video out of your Blu-ray disc? That depends on your player, your TV, the cables in between, and the phase of the moon. Is your cable TV high definition? That depends on what the meaning of the word “is” is. And so on. Mark Pilgrim

Left: Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese in The Terminator.

Right: Solid Snake from Metal Gear.

Could this movie please come to Sweden now? I wants it.

Quite frankly, I have no idea what the movie Casshern is about, but I was sold the moment I saw a Japanese guy cleaving big robots with his bare hands. Does it get better than that?

The entire movie appears to be screaming “Final Fantasy,” so I’ll keep an eye out for this one. Have a look at the trailer, it’s cool.

Update: Here’s another trailer.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines — I’ve seen plenty of people write bad stuff about this movie. I fail to see the bad parts. Were they expecting something other than an all-out action movie? I expected action and nice special effects, and T3 certainly delivered. Ahnuld returns as a Model 101 Terminator, once again to protect John Connor. Action ensues. Bonus points for the ending — I didn’t expect Bollywood to burp out something like that.

The Transporter — Jason Statham shows that he’s pretty good at choreographed martial arts and stunts, though I doubt he’s that good a martial artist in real life.

Statham plays some ex-military guy who’s resaddled as a driver for various illegal items. Rule number three: never open the package. Which he accidentally does during a transportation. Action ensues.

The story is paper-thin, but it has a nice visual style and good car chases. And a fight on an oil-filled floor with a barechested Statham pounding bad guys in style.

If they ever decide to make a movie out of the Hitman games, Statham would look very good as 47, pictured to the right. In the beginning of the movie, he dresses up exactly like the Hitman.

Vidocq — now this movie I liked. I’m a big fan of movies like Dark City and City of Lost Children, so I decided to watch it when read the back of the DVD at the rental place and spotted Pitof’s name. He was visual director for City of Lost Children, which I found immensely beautiful.

The character Vidocq actually existed, but the story is pure fiction. In the opening sequence you see Vidocq, played by Gérard Depardieu, get killed by a figure wearing a billowing dark cloak and a helmet made of mirror glass. The rest of the movie then switches between Vidocq’s investigation that lead to his death and a journalist investigating the death of Vidocq.

The story has a few interesting twists and gave me a very neat idea for an RPG adventure. Highly recommended movie.