Abandoned Insanity

It’s always fun when someone famous decides to spout off on a topic in a bizarre manner. Witness Elton John’s tirade against the internet (found via News.com). Apparently, he believes that the 70s were a great time in music (no, seriously, he means it) and that today’s music sucks — and it’s all the internet’s fault. It’s got nothing to do with downloading (though it doesn’t sound like he’s a fan of that either), but because he somehow thinks that the internet means that people don’t communicate with each other any more — and musicians are all producing music by themselves in their basements. I guess no one has clued him into the fact that the internet is a communications medium, and it’s generally used more to connect people than to isolate them. He also is apparently unaware of a growing number of tools that actually let musicians collaborate online, such as eJamming. He admits he’s a Luddite and unfamiliar with the technology — and his quotes confirm that.

Try these on for size:

“We’re talking about things that are going to change the world and change the way people listen to music and that’s not going to happen with people blogging on the internet.”

“I mean, get out there — communicate.”

“Hopefully the next movement in music will tear down the internet.”

“Let’s get out in the streets and march and protest instead of sitting at home and blogging.”

“I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span.”

“There’s too much technology available.”

It would be easy to refute each of these somewhat laughable points, but, honestly, why bother? Since Sir Elton John apparently doesn’t recognize that most people use the internet to communicate, it’s unlikely that news of how uninformed he is will ever get back to him. Either he’s completely out of touch, or he’s decided that trolling is about the only way to get anyone to pay attention to him any more.

Just because you’re rich and famous it doesn’t make you smart.

Once again it seems the world is after Jason Bourne, when all he wants is to figure out who he really is. But no matter what country he’s in, someone wants to kill him. This time however, Bourne finds someone who can actually help him discover his past and in doing so, he uncovers a lot more than he ever expected.

So I remember not liking The Bourne Supremacy because of the fact that the camera shook so much it gave me a headache. I swore not to watch another movie by that director. So this time I went into the theaters expecting the camera to move non-stop, and with a higher opinion of the director. What I got was a film that was almost completely non-stop action and pretty good from start to finish. There was maybe 5-10 minutes in the whole film where something wasn’t happening. We got to finally learn the truth about Jason Bourne and about where he came from and who he really is. I’m not sure it was a very satisfying explanation - considering it’s taken 3 movies to get here - but it was a reasonable one. But the story isn’t what drives this film: it’s the action.

From the start we see Bourne shot and while injured still manages to beat up an armed Russian solider. For the rest of the movie we get to witness Bourne being Bourne. During one extended sequence in a Waterloo train station, Bourne not only manages to get into a fight with half a dozen people, and beat them all, he manages to lead a newspaper reporter through a maze of people trying to kill them both. If only the reporter had trusted Bourne as much as we do. It was a brilliantly filmed cat and mouse sequence that had the audience applauding at the end.

Bourne is a quiet, thoughtful man who can kill anyone at any time. As played by Matt Damon, he shows virtually no emotion. He’s sort of a meaner, less suave 007, although I’m betting head to head, Bourne would win. The thing about these films is that they’re more ‘real’ action than most of the action films you see today. There isn’t a lot of CGI, just man vs. man. In the last movie he used a newspaper to beat someone up. This time around he uses a book. Bourne doesn’t need fancy gadgets to get the job done. His supporting cast is mainly along for the ride. Because Bourne doesn’t show any emotion, the rest of the cast gets to show the various stages of fear, anger and happiness. We see familiar faces from the past films, and a couple of new recognizable ones pop up to get in Bourne’s way. Needless to say, things don’t always end well for them.

I think what I liked most about the movie was that for an end-of-summer blockbuster, it had enough of a story to make you think, and more than enough action to be satisfying. It’s definitely a movie that I think everyone can enjoy. There isn’t a lot of romance, although there is a tease about one in the past. It’s just basically a non-stop thrill ride that leaves you wanting more.

THE BOTTOM LINE

So overall, I enjoyed The Bourne Ultimatum more than the previous two films. If you’re looking for a great action film, look no further than Jason Bourne.

Microsoft announced that Office 2008 for the Mac will be delayed until January of 2008.

Despite its name, the newest version of Microsoft Office was due for the Mac in “the second half of 2007.” As is always the case with Microsoft, lingering bugs were cited as the reason for the delay:

“It really is just a quality issue across the board,” Craig Eisler, general manager of Microsoft’s Macintosh business unit, said in an interview Wednesday.
Other factors blamed for the delay included the switch to Intel combined with a change in Office file formats. “It was no one thing. “This release was harder than most just because of all those things happening at once.”

As a result, the launch of Office 2008 is expected at Macworld Expo 2008 in San Francisco.