Starting Tomorrow, April 1st, I will comence daily updates. I will start with a bunch of useless stuff, but it will give me a chance to fine tune my pitiful HTML as well as giving you all a glimpse into the existence that is me. I'm sure at first it'll be a little rough, but I'll figure it out.

I have some improvements on the way for our homely Dechter.com. First off, I've given our secondary contributing writer, Marc, his own page. I figure he sends in enough stuff, so why not.

I also hope to soon start a comics page with art by Matt Miner. He is an artist of tremendous skill and an off-the-wall sense of humor that has me giggling constantly. Hopefully, I can get some of Matt's art uploaded this weekend, so be on the lookout for that.

Now, on to the mechanics of the site. In the next day or two, that blank blue/purple bar on the left side of your screen will become an image map, allowing instant access to Marc's page, Matt's page, the old posts archive, a movie reviews page, and other on-site links.

I'm also playing with the idea of a site index that would reside at the top of the page and would list the five or ten most recent posts. There is a similar index at AnandTech, so check that one out and see what you think.

If you have any comments, questions, points of interest, or if you find any HTML or grammtical errors, let me know. Also, feel free to send me stuff that is amusing, interesting, or just plain boring. I really don't care-- most likely I'll post it.

Movie Review:The Matrix

I admit it. I wanted to see this movie so badly, I went to the first show this afternoon in Spokane. The show started at 2:20pm and I wanted to be there a little early as well as get a new pair of shoes, so I left at about 1:15pm. It usually takes about 30 minutes to get to the Spokane Valley 12 theater on the far east side of Spokane, but that was before some genius decided to close the interstate. Well, it's not really closed, but it is cut down from six lanes to two lanes (one in each direction) from 6am to 6pm or so.

So, I had to get off the interstate and use the damn surface roads. And of course I had to deal with the Left Lane Lame-os. We've all seen them, and we all hate them. The people who absolutely must be in the left lane at all times. And they have to go about 5mph under the speed limit. In fact, today I saw a dumb-ass lady crusing in the left lane and as I approached in the right lane (which was absolutely clear, btw) she swerved into the right lane to avoid a truck waiting to turn at a crossroad, cutting me off. I honked and told her she was number one (read into that folks), only to watch her pass the truck and move slowly back into the left lane. Idiots.

On to the movie. It was cool. Not quite Phantom Menace cool, Out of Sight cool, or Pulp Fiction cool, but cool none the less. Many people have compared this film to Blade, in that they both involved heavy martial arts booty-whoopin' and a techno soundtrack. Personally, I liked Blade a little more. It is close though. Whereas Blade was a little weak on plot, The Matrix has so much plot, the movie becomes muddled. The entire second act could be cut and the movie trimmed down by 20 minutes and it would flow much better. It just seemed a little slow. Especially, when considering at that point there had only been two kick-ass action sequences.

About those action sequences, though. Wow. The trailer does them no justice. They were just too few and far between.

There was also some off the wall stuff about a human resistance and people living near the core of the earth, but that was never explained nor mentioned again. That stuff could have been cut, too. However, don't let any of the short comings keep you from this film. It was still incredibly cool, and upon subsequent viewing, I may warm up to the faults, but as of now, I give it 4 of 5.

I've dug up a few of the cooler pics from the website and posted them here because I like to look at them.

What I really think is interesting is the way the stunts are done. Doubtless, most of you have seen the trailer, but if not, head over to the Matrix website and snag it. Those flying, jumping, spinning super jujitsu shots are not of computer-rendered virtual actors (ala Lucas and Episode One). The four lead actors, Keanu, Lawrence, Carrie-Anne, and Hugo, all trained for five months with Honk Kong stunt coordinator and martial arts expert Woo-ping Yuen. Check out his credits-- he's hardcore.

I really like those rotating, slow motion shots, too. Those were done by a guy named John Gaeta and a special camera rig that incorporated 120 cameras all filming the actor. That way they could manipulate the actors from any angle necessary and compose those super-neato shots.

Also of note, The Matrix is based on a William Gibson short story as was the 1995 film, Johnny Mnemonic, also starring Keanu Reeves. Hopefully, The Matrix won't suck as bad as Johnny. Ugh, that was terrible. This I snagged from IMDb:

His (Gibson's) novel Neuromancer (1984) and its sequels Count Zero (1986) and Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) are generally considered the definitive works of the "cyberpunk" science-fiction subgenre.

So, by definition, William Gibson is "The Man." Or if not The Man, he probably knows The Man. Or at least Gibson gets a Christmas card from him.

These People Just Won't Give Up!

So yesterday i get home after being out of town for the weekend. On my answering machine: "Hi, this is Christine with Help in Crisis International at 206-xxx-xxxx. We are looking for donations of used vehicles which we auction to raise money for needy kids..."

Now what the hell is that? Are charities getting greedier? Now they don't want donations of clothes or used toys. No, they need your CAR. Damn guys, let's come back down to earth! What's next?

"Hello, I'm calling on account of Save the Nutcases, and we're looking for donations of used houses, which we auction to raise money for needy out of asylum psychos. Also, if you can't afford to give us your house, we will have a truck in your neighborhood collecting used body parts, such as spleens, kidneys, livers, hearts, and lungs. You don't even need to call us back, we'll come get your donation some night while you're asleep. Have a nice day!"

Crap he's awake! Uh, thank you for your kind donation sir.

Future Shop also subscribes to the system of incredibly high prices coupled with terrible customer service. My brother and I once had to spend 30 minutes chasing down a salesman so we could buy a television. We were standing there with a wad of cash-- it's not like we were "just browsing."

However, with Future Shop closing, that leaves Circuit City as the only electronics store in town and I consider them the evil Satan of consumerism. Not only did they create DIVX, but they have appalling customer service to match. Unless you are buying a huge television or stereo or appliance worth several hundred dollars, they could care less if you were on fire in their stores. Just stay away from the DIVX displays.

So, Future Shop runs television and radio spots in the local markets advertising their "huge-everything-must-go" sales to start Friday, March 12. Rumors of 15-25% off everything is sure to garner attention.

You call this a sale?! Do I look like a redneck?! This one says "Coal powered." Explain that.

So, on Friday at about 9:30am I pull up in front of the closest Future Shop. There is a crowd of about 30 people outside, so I figure that the store will be busy, but no too bad because it's still early on a weekday. Well, low and behold, the crowd is simply reading the crappy, hand-written sign stating: "We will be open on Satruday March 13 at 9am." I'm quoting exactly. Notice the mis-spelled version of Saturday. Must be Canadain,eh? Peeved, I drive across town to the other Future Shop location. They too are closed, but at least their sign is printed. You'd think a computer store could at least use a printer from their supply to make an effort at professionalism.

Saturday morning I get up at 7am and jump in the car. I arrive at Future Shop at about 8am to find a line of about 500 people already in place. Some people got there at 6:45am. At 8:55, they throw the doors open and let the flood of consumerism begin. I walk in, immediately notice sings that state "5-10% SAVINGS ON EVERYTHING!!" and cringe. 5%? That doesn't even cover sales tax! What kind of crap is that?

As pissed as I was, very few others seemed to think anything of it. I stuck around for almost two hours, wishing I had a camera. The consumer cattle were convinced they were getting great deals and grabbing everything in sight. Rednecks were wandering around, eyes glazed like they were walking the streets of an electronic Babylon, slurring things like "Hey Ma! Lookee at this meekro-wave! Ima gunna git one!" The lines to make purchases were over 150 people deep and all 8 stations were running.

I was vindicated when a riot broke out and we burned the store to the ground.

If you prefer to get your news from reliable sources, here is MSNBC/Q6's take on the story.