The Generic “What I’m Doing” Post

While I wait for my Mac to backup before giving it a rebuild here is an update as to what has been going on just recently.

Quantum of Solace
We went to see Bond 22 last Friday night and I have to say, not really that impressed.  Martin Campbell has resurrected Bond twice with Goldeneye and Casino Royale, and I really wish he had directed the first proper direct Bond sequel because tonally this is all over the place.

The general consenus across the internet is “good, but not as good as Casino Royale”.  That’s pretty much how I would describe it.  Daniel Craig is superb once again as Bond, and he does the best he can here with what he has to work with.  But the story is dull, the villain about as scary as an episode of Scooby Doo and the action is very frustrating.  Casino took a leaf out of the Bourne films portfolio by making the action more intense and realistic.  Here director Marc Forster (who has never directed an action flick before) has gone for the MTV generatic fast cut approach and it just left me thinking “WTF is going on? Stop moving the damn camera”.  As such the opening Aston Martin chase which is absolutely stunning leaves you breathless for all the wrong reasons, and a boat chase later on in the movie does more of the same.

Then when it gets to the final action sequence it turns into a more traditional action movie which is incredibly well put together by the usual Bond effects crew led by Chris Corbould.  Oh and the title song is bloody terrible too.

If this were just another generic action movie it would be fine.  If it were a Bourne movie it would be fine.  But this is a Bond movie, and while the series has of course had to move with the times, Quantum of Solace left me more stirred than shaken.  That’ll earn me ten points from the “most cliched things to say in a Bond movie review” squad.
I really want to see Quantum of Solace again at home, on Blu-ray with the sound cranked up, because the quality of the picture and sound at our refitted multiplex was absolutely terrible.  Even Sally who pays no heed to such things generally said “The sound at home is much better than that”.  I was so proud.

Xbox Returns
My original launch Xbox 360 finally returned from Germany last Friday, and I actually got the same console back!  The repair sheet in the box confirmed that the motherboard was faulty and had been replaced.  I was rather glad to get that back in one piece, and I think they replace the casing as well as it was covered in factory fit stickers and it was notably cleaner than when it left.

I have to say I was very impressed wth Xbox support.  Unlike their courier of choice, UPS who were an absolute nightmare.

Microsoft’s turn around for repairing the 360 was less than a day.  It then spent three days waiting for UPS to pick it up, and it took me nearly a week to get someone to pick the damn thing up in the first place.
One thing I have noticed after testing it, the Elite is WAY quieter than the original machines.

Freesat PVR
Still no official launch date but the Freesat PVR will very shortly be in the shops, and there is a ton of information (including videos) over at Join Freesat.  I particularly like the feature when you select to record a programme on BBC1, if it is also on BBC HD (not much chance of that, Spooks, Stephen Fry, Top Gear in HD? Nah, no chance) you will be told so and asked if you want to record the SD or HD version.

Spousal acceptance factor?  Still not biting, and I just bought her cashmere too

Software Mountain
Microsoft’s quarterly Action Pack has dropped at work but I’m still waiting impatiently for mine to arrive at home.  There is an absolute ton of new software this time around including Small Business Server 2008, Essential Business Server and SQL Server 2008.  More new stuff to learn, and I have the relevant hardware finally to get down to it.

Finally, it’s cold.  I’m in the midst of rebuilding most of my computers, have dropped Earl, The Office, Heroes, Californication and a couple of other shows from the weekly watch (will wait for the DVD box sets at the end of the season), have a ton of games to play and not a lot of time to do so.  Still, soon be Christmas.

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Category: Movies, Personal, Reviews, Tech Stuff