Tron: Legacy... Life and Death on the Grid

I saw Tron: Legacy the other night, and it was amazingly cool!  I'd also highly recommend checking out the original Tron before seeing it.  There were quite a few subtle references to the first movie.

Every review I've read defends the movie on the grounds that in spite of the story, the visuals and special effects were amazing.  And they were, but I'm going to defend the story.  I'll admit that the plot wasn't particularly intricate or diverse, but there's a difference between a straightforward plot and a weak one.  I don't like movies that are just a collection of explosions and action sequences with little pieces of plot stuffed into the cracks between, and this wasn't one of those.  There were plenty of explosions and fights but they followed the plot, not the other way around.

I particularly liked the characters.  They all had their own personalities that we caught glimpses of throughout, from the naively cute Quorra (Olivia Wilde), to the flinching and spineless Jarvis (James Frain), to the over-the-top to the point of unhinged Castor/Zuse (Michael Sheen).  We were just given hints about their personalities and pasts, which only made me want to know more about them.  How did Flynn fight Clu before the Purge?  What kind of history do Quorra and Zuse have?

In the Grid, "minutes passed like hours" and, if I really wanted to be a geek, twenty years of minutes like hours figures to subjective centuries.  The thing is, I really got a sense that all those years had passed and that things had been happening during that time.  Fights and battles between Programs and Isos, between Flynn and Clu, culminating in the Purge.  Attempted rebellions and revolutions by the Programs as Clu secured his control over the Grid when Flynn was forced to retreat to the Wastes.  Forget more sequels, now I want to know what happened during all those years before Sam stumbled into the Grid.

Minor vacation

I haven't posted in quite a while but like I said in my last post, I try very hard not to just sit down and rant and complain about work and life in general.  Unless it's particularly interesting or anecdotal.

I just got back from a 6-day vacation used to escape work and visit family.  Originally, I'd planned to take my vacation in the fall this year, but when the old manager left that all went out the window.  Just in case, I shot an email to HR to see if there was anything I could do to hang onto those days.  Almost immediately, the DM replies and says that I can carry them over as late as March next year, "like he told me before."  That ass said no such thing.  He was hoping I'd just quietly roll over and relinquish my vacation without complaint.

I managed to attend my 2-year-old nephew Emmet's birthday party.  He excitedly opened all his presents until he got to the box of toy horses.  Then he lost interest in everything else and practically had to be dragged away from playing with them so that he could open the rest of his presents.  After that, the onlything that was more exciting than those horses was the birthday cake, made from scratch by his mom and grandma.

Indiana, my 8-year-old nephew, was exploring deep into one of his grandparents' closets and unearthed a box of books I'd had when I was a kid.  There were a few dozen Hardy Boys mysteries, some choose-your-own-adventure books, and the Black Cauldron series.  There was a small argument with his dad about why he couldn't take them all home with them.  That night he insisted that I read one with him before bed, and I was happy to oblige, folowing Frank and Joe Hardy and the mysterious government agent only known as Mr Grey as they investigated an international terrorist/crim ring.  I provided english accents for all the Interpol agents.