here’s the text of President Obama’s speech to Congress tonight.
Favorite phrase:
a down-payment on the principle that we must have quality, affordable health care for every American
Down-payment on a principle. Love it!
As for a general take, it all sounds good, but I have to read the actual budget to see if it makes sense.
Apple has released a beta for Safari 4, and it looks pretty awesome. I’m really psyched about the new web inspector features and the (hallelujah!) JavaScript debugger. I’ll install it on my non-work machine soon and report back with more details.
Also, I really really want a new MacBook Pro, since my PowerBook G4 is really struggling with the only tasks I use it for: watching video and using PhotoShop. Sigh.
Update 2009-02-24 16:25—The Safari 4 beta is rocking my world. Especially the revamped web inspector. I really really wanted the Firebug-style element highlighting when you hover over an element in the markup in the inspector, and I got it. That and the JS debugger are going to change my life.
Also, recent benchmarks show that Safari 4 is, for the moment, at least, 42 (yes. 42.) times faster than IE7 and 3.5 times faster than Firefox 3 on Windows. Let the JavaScript engine wars commence! (via)
High 3. Pure entertainment that gave me exactly what I wanted: immersive special effects and Brendan Fraser telling dumb jokes. The effects and backdrops were spectacular, and I was on the edge of my seat pretty much the whole time. Solid, no frills entertainment with no pretensions at much more. Good stuff.
My sister hit the nail on the head: this movie was an excellent execution of a supremely implausible premise, right up until the last 3 minutes and a Disney-fied ending. Believable characters (big fan of the Shia LaBeouf) and non-stop action (lots of stuff blew up!), all ruined by the last few minutes. Sigh. It still gets a 3 for keeping me with it all the way.
Somebody should have told me I was supposed to drop acid before watching this movie. Though the movie was well-executed and they made good use of the rotoscoping (sadly not the case with a lot of filmmakers who use the technology), it was hard to get engaged. Worth watching, but nothing to write home about.
Understated but beautifully executed docudrama about the emergence of California vineyards and wineries onto the global scene in the mid-70s. Great actors, good script, beautiful scenery. What more can you ask for? Well, if we want to be nit-picky, a few less helicopter flyovers of wine country. Highly recommended.
This movie was what I expected: good, solid entertainment with lots of special effects. Fun, but lacking the charm of the first movie, this latest edition in the series had one big drawback. As much as I like Maria Bello, she really was miscast here; she had no chemistry with Brendan Fraser at all, and wasn’t believable in the role. Also, bummer that we don’t get to see His Hotness Russell Wong in non-undead form for longer. :*(
I can’t say I was surprised that this was a bad movie, because I wasn’t expecting much in the first place. That said, I was hoping it’d be a bit more entertaining, at least. In a phrase, I’d describe this movie as almost, but not quite. The story was interesting, but poor direction and an inferior screenplay really dragged down a movie with potential. Bumped to 2 stars for the good job on the lighting, though all of the really cool looking-scenes were reminiscent of better-executed ones from other movies. Like I said: almost, but not quite.