 SO. I saw the Matrix Revolutions. And guess what? I liked it. Perhaps I had lowered expectations due to all the bad press (like Wired's rather negative take), but I thought it was really good. Yeah, they could have done more with the "simulation inside a simulation" angle (the speech by The Architect at the end of Matrix Reloaded doesn't make sense in retrospect), but overall it did tie up the loose ends. And the special effects were, well, special. I think the original Matrix was such an awesome classic that it raised fan expectations to the point where they couldn't be met.
Current movie greatness - Alien. Still the scariest movie of all time. That stupid alien lived outside my window for weeks after I saw it the first time. I might have to see it again.
Upcoming movie greatness - Master and Commander. The Patrick O'Brian series is one of my alltime favorites, so this is a must-see. (There are 20 books in the series, will there be 20 movies?)
And further out movie greatness - Shrek 2. The trailer is hilarious.
The NYTimes reports States in India Take New Steps to Limit Births; an interesting twist to Unnatural Selection. "A new reckoning is under way in India over how best to stabilize a population that is set to surpass China's as the world's biggest by midcentury... At least six [states] have laws mandating a two-child norm for members of village councils, and some are extending it to civil servants as well." I suppose the leaders have to set the example, but of course it is not the leaders who have the high birth rate in the first place. [ thanks, Gary ]
Nice post by godless on GNXP: Two fallacies: international Marxism and reverse Marxism. If you know me, you know I very much agree with this point of view. Read the comment thread, too, lots of good discussion.
From Scoble: "The rumor: Microsoft wants to buy Google. The reality: Microsoft Blogger has dinner with Google's founders." I love it.
This is surprising: Xbox to Switch to PowerPC. "It's a very big win for IBM. It's a clear change of direction for Microsoft, and it's a very unfortunate surprise for Intel."
Meanwhile, Steve Jobs says Apple has no plans to switch to Intel. (Which had previously been rumored...) This article also notes Apple is not working on a Media Center -like capability (recording video from TV like PVRs). "'We're not going to go that direction,' Jobs said. 'There is a small audience that likes this.' Jobs said there are several problems with the Media Center concept, in particular the wide divergence in the way people want to watch television as compared with how they use a computer." I would have expected Apple to buy Tivo, or something like that :)
Speaking of Tivo, they recently signed up their 1,000,000th subscriber. Excellent, all us users are pulling for them to make it.
Interestingly, I recently saw an add for the new Nissan Z car which was uploaded to my Tivo. It included interactivity ("do you want us to send you a DVD by mail?"). Interesting extension of their business model.
Ottmar Liebert has added a wrinkle to the traditional music CD; his latest album nouveaumatic included a URL that leads to two extra tracks available from his website. Cool!
So, the FCC, in its infinite lameness, passed the "broadcast flag" mandate. This will do nothing to deter piracy, but will inhibit perfectly legitimate innovation. Not good.
 This is so cool - a website with a bunch of carved eggshells. They're beautiful! [ via Cory Doctorow ]
And... Voyager I has reached interstellar space, the first man-made object to exit our solar system. "'We are beginning the exploration of a new frontier,' said Voyager project scientist Edward Stone." To boldly go where no man has gone before...
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