Recent thoughts


a. The Departed is the first Scorsese-movie I have seen in my life. Actors, locations, mise-en-scène ... I can only use superlatives. Of course, no movie that uses The Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter can fail.


b. Modern Times is the first Dylan-album I have bought in my life. You should buy it too.


c. Fracture is not the first Hopkins-movie I have seen in my life - but it's certainly one of the best! I was truly in awe of the acting, the suspense and the outcome - no mean feat for a movie that's no 'whodunit' but rather a 'howdidhegetawaywithit'. And I officially declare Ryan Gosling 'best actor born in the 80's'.


d. Is Sony joking its dedicated fanbase? Let's list the size of their casings/boxes :

PlayStation-games => the size of a CD.
PlayStation2-games => the size of a DVD.
PlayStationPortable-games => the size of something inbetween.
PlayStation3-games => the size of a Blu-Ray/HD DVD.

How can THAT ever look aesthetically correct in your closet?!

Now I don't want to break another lance for Nintendo, but compare :

Super Nintendo and Nintendo64 => the same size.
Gamecube and Wii => the same size.
GameBoy, GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance and Nintendo DS => all the same size.

Only the very first Nintendo, the NES, is a troublemaker.


e. Blokker Inc. is a Dutch chain of toy stores. Fine enough. Blokker has three subsidiaries : the eponymous Blokker, Bart Smit (jokingly referred to as "Darth Sith" by Star Wars-fans) and Intertoys. Fine enough.

Now picture this : Spider-Man 3-action figures cost $12 in Blokker, $10.99 in Bart Smit and $9.99 in Intertoys. I'll give you a moment to think that over.

What were they thinking??!



Julian De Backer, 16 June 2007