The Ashimmy Blog

Is Avatar the future of film? I don't know, but it sure is amazing

I went to see Avatar in 3D last night with my son Landon. I have been waiting for this film since I first saw the trailer and read about it. Beyond the hype of James Cameron bringing another film to screen. Beyond it being the most expensive movie ever made. Beyond me being a huge Sci Fi fan, I wanted to see a truly great film. I felt that Landon at 10 would be old enough to appreciate the “art” of this movie.  We were not disappointed!

Visually Avatar is the most stunning movie ever made.  If you can see it in 3D do so, but if you can’t I would say it is still stunning. The 3D is a nice touch but not a make or break feature.

The story is not particularly unique. It is the classic story of the invaders with superior technology coming to exploit the natural resources of a land settled by a people at one with nature. In order to do so the exploiters will have to throw the natives off of the land or kill them. The natives fight back and look to their Gaia like spirit of the living planet to help them. (sound familiar?).

Of course this all takes place on an alien world called Pandora. The humans are the invaders and bad guys. A unique twist is our ability to grow avatars that are made from native and human DNA fused.  This gives certain humans the ability to walk among the natives. You can probably figure out most of the plot from that.

But the real magic of Avatar is the technology used to make the movie.  I am old enough to remember when Tron first came out. The buzz was that one day all films would be created inside of a computer with computer generated characters and scenery.  I remember seeing it in the movies and thinking the black light fluorescent colors were really cool.

I remember Pixar with Toy Story. Supposedly the first computer generated animated film. I loved the story, but the animation of the people didn’t make your think they were real people. George Lucas in the second trilogy of Star Wars took movie animation and graphics to another level I think. Mixing real life and animation together the worlds of Naboo and Coruscant were breathtaking. But Cameron has outdid even Lucas in Avatar.

The mixing of computer generated characters with real actors together is amazing. But even more amazing to me is how life like the computer generated characters were.  The Na’avi in Avatar are so far beyond Andy in Toy Story that it is not even fair to compare. Even the animated characters in Star Wars are no match for the Na’avi and the rest of the animals on Pandora.  The bioluminescent forest is spectacular.  The whole movie just has a feeling of quality in craftsmanship that lets you believe that you are really peeking into a real world called Pandora and these are real people and creatures you are watching.

No, I don’t know if Avatar is the future of film. But James Cameron has certainly set the bar pretty high for others to shoot for.  I can’t wait to go back and see this movie again! 

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Father, son go where no man has gone before

I had another one of those Father- son moments with my two boys this past Saturday night. When our babysitter came down sick, we had to cancel plans to go out to dinner and instead, Bonnie and I  went out with the kids for a quick dinner and a movie.  I was drooling to see the new Star Trek movie and since it was rated PG-13 I thought it would be OK for the kids to see.  Well OK there was some harsh language and some sexy scenes (my younger son Bradley said “enough romance already”), but sharing Star Trek with my sons and seeing them becoming trekkies was a very rewarding experience.  The movie really opened their minds to the whole Trek universe, including the far out science and technology.  As a dad it did my heart proud to hear them say “live long and prosper”.

As to the movie I went in with mixed feelings about whether or not this movie would be good enough.  How could young actors take the place of my beloved Enterprise crew.  But they did a great job.  I loved the young Kirk and Spok.  Lt Uhura, Scotty, Bones and the rest were all great.  I can’t wait for the next movie in this series.  My favorite line was when Mr Spok’s father in his best unemotional Vulcan manner tells his son that he married his mother because he loved her.  The movie was a great Mother’s Day night out with my wife and kids. The whole family got into the Trek thing.

Seeing it in Boca was a trip too.  Sitting next to Bonnie was an elderly couple who were big Trek fans.  First the gentlemen told Bonnie that he knew that Mr Spok’s mother was actually Jewish. I am not sure if he meant the actress playing the role or if he really believes Mr Spok was half Jewish in addition to Vulcan and Human? In any event, when the Enterprise crew was assembled on the bridge at the end of the movie, this poor guy just couldn’t contain himself. He was crying like a baby. He told his wife that is where he wants to be.

All in all taking the family to see the new Trek movie, about 32 dollars. Lots of popcorn and soda, about 17 dollars.  Watching the movie and bonding with the kids through the Star Trek experience, priceless!  Watching it in Boca and finding out that Mr Spok may be half Jewish?  Going where no man has gone before!

Seriously, if you appreciate Star Trek at all, you should go see this movie.

Pictures worth a thousand words

This past weekend I was pointed to an article which made me sad and made me reminisce.  The assets of Polaroid which went bankrupt in December were sold to a pair of companies who specialize in picking up bankrupt name brands such as The Sharper Image, Linens-n-Things and Bombay. But for me the loss of Polaroid hit hard. Being maybe a little older then most of you, I remember before there were digital cameras. I even remember before there was one hour photo processing. You had to bring your film into a store who sent it out and in about 3 to 5 days maybe you could come pick up your pictures.  Not exactly instant gratification.  Unless of course you were lucky enough to have a Polaroid. I am not talking about the SX70 models that were so popular in the 1980’s. You know James Garner and the woman who would do those cute commercials. They would snap a picture and the camera would spit it out. Then watching the instant photo it would develop before your eyes. Sort of like the picture to the right. I guess many of you may think of that as a Polaroid. But I remember even before that.

My memories of Polaroid cameras go back to when i was a very little boy, maybe 4 or 5 years old.  My Grandfather had a Polaroid camera that looked more like the one to the left. I remember feeling a  sense of magic as he would take a picture of my cousin Jeri Dee or my brother or I. The flash bulb would go off really bright and I would see spots.  I used to love seeing the used flash bulbs, all burnt out. Don’t ask me why I remember that or why I was attracted to it.  Then my Grandpa would pull the picture out of the side of the camera. It would make a noise as it was pulled out.  Then you would wave the picture for what felt like forever, but was probably somewhere between 30 and 60 seconds.  He would then peel the front off the picture and there would be a picture! Between the smell of the flash and the unique chemical smell of the picture it was something that would stick with me and was unmistakable. I would look at those little pictures, with the colors kind of off for hours and hours. I did not understand why anyone would use the other kind of cameras that would take so long to get the pictures.  Forever after I always associated Polaroid cameras with my Grandfather.  Unfortunately my Grandfather died when I was 8 or 9. That was the end of Polaroid pictures for me.  Yes I probably owned an SX70 at some point, but that wasn’t the same.

So when I read that this is the end of the Polaroid camera there was a bit of a little boy me in who relived that whole memory again, lost that sense of magic of your Grandpa conjuring up pictures instantly and capturing some great times that now exist only in my memories.

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A Father-Son movie moment

I still remember the first time I saw the movie Brian's Song on TV. I was 10 years old. I had never heard of Brian Piccolo, knew who Gayle Sayers was, but wasn't a big fan and was crazy for football.  For those not familiar, it is the true story of two football players who become more than friends and urge each other on to be all they can be.  Brian Piccolo develops cancer and tragically dies at age 26.  I cried my eyes out. Anyone who has ever watched the movie has cried their eyes out.  It stars Billie Dee Williams as Gayle Sayers and James Caan as PIc.  There was a remake about 10 years later and though it was good, the original has stayed with me my whole life. The haunting melody of the theme song is enough to move me to tears.

My oldest son Landon loves football movies. He mentioned Gayle Sayers to me a couple of times from some old clips he saw. I told him about Brian's Song and we talked about renting it one night at Blockbuster.  Today on the way out of the grocery store in the discount DVD bin we came across the movie. It was the only copy left and looked a bit beat up, but I thought it must be meant for us to come across. So I paid the 10 bucks and we went home to watch it.

My wife is away this weekend so it was just me and the kids.  My younger son was watching Wall-e in his room and wasn't interested in Brian's Song. Just as well, it is over his head.  Watching it with Landon was a special moment for me as a Dad.  Like me he was totally enthralled with the game clips interspersed in the movie.  But in between clips you could not but admire the friendship these two players had and what they meant to each other.  I relived with him watching for the first time the shock of someone getting sick and the doctors can't make them better.  How could someone so healthy be so sick?  Why would God do such a thing.  Landon sat through the movie and at the end when Sayers makes his impassioned speech on accepting the most courageous player award, we both sat there crying while I held him.  We both cried through the end of the movie,and then after a while, we spoke about what great players they both were and what great friends they were.

After this I dug into my junk draw to look for something I have had since shortly after I saw that movie all those years ago - a Brian Piccolo football card. I had held on to it all these years. I guess maybe some part of me wanted to share that with my son someday. When the time came, I couldn't find it!  I will tear the house apart tomorrow looking for it. But it wasn't the card that mattered.  It was sharing this experience with Landon. I know we will both never forget Brian's Song now.  Whenever he hears that song, I hope he will remember that he saw that movie for the first time, with his Dad holding him, both of us crying for the tragedy of a courageous life cut too short.  Special moments of being a Dad.

VCR taping part II

Image via Wikipedia

I thought I was in a time warp reading this article that RealNetworks had pulled their RealDVD copying software pending a judges ruling.  It seems several of the major Hollywood studios have asked the courts to stop distribution of the software because it will break or bypass the DRM-copyright protection (pronounced you can't copy it, not copyright) built into DVDs.

Two things on this come to my mind.  First of all, I am old enough to remember when Hollywood said the same thing about taping movies on VCR tapes.  The thought of taping off of the TV or of buying a tape and making copies for all of your friends scared Hollywood to death.  We heard all kinds of stories about how this was going to be the death of the movie business.  What happened was that the VCR tape business became a huge money maker for the studios.  An entire new revenue stream, often bigger than than what a film drew in theatres was born.  Despite all of the doom and gloom, VCR tapes was the best thing that ever happened to the movie business.  I don't see any reason that DVDs will be any different.

Secondly, even if ReadDVD is stopped from selling this software, do you really think they are the only ones? Anyone who is serious about copying DVDs can find software on the Internet to do this.  I think the movie industry, like the music industry is shoveling sand against the tide with DRM and anti-copying protection.  These industries need to figure out how to capitalize on the viral nature of copying media and monetize it.  Picking on RealNetworks about this a whack-a-mole game.  As soon as RealNetworks is back in the hole, another one will pop up.

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Everything I need to know I learned from Sex and the City

Coming home on the plane last night I had a chance to catch the "Sex and the City" movie. I admit that I watched the HBO series with my wife and was sorry it ended.  When the movie came out, my wife went with her friends on the first night it opened and I stayed home.  No biggie, I figured it was a chick flick anyway.  So when I saw it as an option on the flight home, I thought it would be a great time to see it for myself.  Within just a few minutes I felt like I was back among old friends.  Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Sam - I have watched these girls grow up in NYC.  Of course Mr. Big, Steve, Smith and Harry were there. Aiden and Petrovsky weren't there, but hey I liked those guys too. Tell the truth, which of you have ever watched this show and not found fragments of your personality in these characters.  Be really honest with yourself, which of the characters have you thought you are most like?  I thought so. I am not alone.  Like most of you I have seen myself in multiple characters on the show. Elements of my relationship have been dead on to those on the show.

Now, I have never held myself out as an expert on women and relationships.  As a matter of fact, I have always been a bit slow, truth be told.  Having several friends recently going through breakups of both marriages and long standing relationships, as well as dealing with getting older and not being a 20-something or even a 30 something anymore, this movie really struck home. Watching this movie I was moved to tears and laughter at the same time. It was not over the fashions either.

No, the characters are not real and there is no exact clone of you or me. But collectively there is so much truth and lessons to be learned in this movie and with these characters.  The writers and creators have done an excellent job of staying true to the original show and making a movie that even a somewhat oversensitive guy could truly appreciate!  If you get a chance rent the DVD when it is out.

Now if I can only get my email off that damn iPhone I can get some work done on this plane ride instead of writing about this stuff!

Iron Man was just not very magnetic to me

Took the kids to see Iron Man tonight with our cousins Jeri and Danny.  I generally like Robert Downey, Jr and he acted very hard in this movie. However, I just didn't get the story. I remember watching Iron Man cartoons when I was little and reading the comic books, there was some special thing about Iron Man's blood the way I remember it that gave him super hero powers.

In the movie incarnation, Tony Starks is the son of a weapons designer and a brilliant weapons designer himself.  However, he has some serious character flaws. He is kidnapped by some sort of mid-eastern terrorists and take some shrapnel in his chest.  A doctor attaches an electromagnet to a car battery on his chest to keep the shrapnel from going into his heart. Downey then designs some sort of mini-power source to power the electromagnet,  He uses the power source to power a metal suit he builds (long story) and escapes from the terrorists.  From there the movie is fairly predictable and frankly in my opinion not very good.  I didn't understand how he got the superpower, it was just a powered suit and how it worked was pretty silly. 

The ultimate thumbs up or down for me was that both of my sons fell asleep in the movie theater.  The good news is that this is the start of the summer movie season. I am really looking forward to Indiana Jones and the kids want to see Speed Racer!

Why didn't we think of this?

Saw a pretty funny video clip today over on the Hoff-miester's blog.  It is a viral video from the folks over at Palo Alto Networks poking fun at Juniper and Check Point.  Pay attention to the words, as it is good stuff. What could be next, Dancing with the Security Stars? I would like to see Amrit, Tom Ptacek and Mike Rothman (I hear he has been practicing dancing with his daughter for this) as the contestants. 

Seriously, these videos are a great way to get some buzz going and I think Palo Alto has done a great job.  Count on Chris to find this stuff. Enjoy!

Your life is an occasion

Your life is an occasion, rise to it - Dustin Hoffman as Edward Magorium in Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

In another lesson of you can't put much stock in what the critics say, I took my two sons to a delightful movie today.  It is called Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, starring Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman.  It also features a great young actor named Zach Mills and former child star Jason Bateman (as the mutant, I mean accountant). Bonnie and I originally saw a coming soon trailer for this movie months ago and thought it would be great for the kids.  However, when it came out the reviews have been almost all very poor, especially the local Florida paper.  Well I guess I know why that critic is reviewing movies in a Florida newspaper and not the NY Times. So in spite of the bad press, we honored our family Thanksgiving weekend tradition of going to the movies.

Anyway, in an age where movies are judged by how cool the computer animation is, how many people the superhero beats up and crude bathroom humor, I found this movie to be a movie with a message I want my kids to learn.  It is about Mr Magorium's impending "departure" and a young girl who has not lived up to her potential finding the "sparkle and magic" in herself to fill those old, large shoes.  I don't want to give away more than that, but my kids were really into the story and we had some great discussions about some of the concepts the movie explored. It has enough CGI to give the kids the oohs and aahs they like, but that does not dominate the story, which explores some great lessons for the young and old alike.

So don't believe the press, go see Magorium for yourself and by all means bring the kids!

Multi-purpose appliances

With Mitchell talking so much about software appliances and the converging of networking and security appliances, I thought I would contribute my own post on what I call multi-purpose appliances.  This You Tube video was sent to me anonymously and shows what you can do with a Checkpoint UTM-1 appliance if you have another need for the box.  Funnier still, I think the Checkpoint box is actually an OEM of our favorite enterprise/carrier class UTM vendor.  I am sure they are thrilled to find another use for their boxes.  What can be next, a flower pot? Maybe a fish bowl?  Anyway, enjoy!

If you don't see the You Tube player, click here to view the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUleb72-8Os