matrix reloaded

Well, I really wasted my time seeing this film. What a bore.
Anybody actually *like* it? I hate the idea of these "sequels" too,
where you have to see several films to get the entire. In fact,
_matrix reloaded_ was somewhat confusing due to the fact that, I
believe, there was an assumption that people had already seen the
*first* installment, which I hadn't...

J. Pehrson

>Well, I really wasted my time seeing this film. What a bore.
>Anybody actually *like* it? I hate the idea of these "sequels"
>too, where you have to see several films to get the entire. In
>fact, _matrix reloaded_ was somewhat confusing due to the fact
>that, I believe, there was an assumption that people had already
>seen the *first* installment, which I hadn't...

It's a shame you weren't stopped from seeing it before the first
film.... it's no wonder you didn't have a clue what was happening.

While the first film was better, _Reloaded_ is a steller example
of comic book film, one of the most beautiful, pertinent, and
American forms of storytelling around. We're in a little golden
age of it right now, as you've probably noticed.

_Reloaded_ is also one of the most important special effects films
ever released. It's the first film ever to feature complete CG
replacements of major human characters for an entire scene, which
was done using a revolutionary technique, which was developed here
in Alameda. This technique is really incredibly important for
everyone, for obvious reasons, and I highly recommend the WIRED
article (cover story of last month's issue) on it.

-Carl

Carl,

I'm looking forward to seeing MReloaded, as this is the kind of stuff I cut my teeth on since earliest childhood. And you're right, we're in a great period of cartoons/animation/comics. We happened into a brand new Borders today, and took a look at the video of (damn, I have forgotten the name) the Japanese animated film that wowed everyone this last year.

Borders has these incredible mini-kiosks scattered all over: you go up, put on headphones, and scan the bar code of a CD or DVD on the machine, and then you can hear the tracks from the CD or see - on the little LCD - a preview of the DVD. Hell, I went in to pick up a Pearl Jam CD and ended up buying two incredible Balkan CDs as well!

However...

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, "Carl Lumma" <clumma@y...> wrote:
> This technique is really incredibly important for everyone, for
> obvious reasons

Entertaining, fascinating, and all the rest. "Incredibly important"? Not only is it not obvious why spending huuuuuuge amounts of money on state of the art CGI stuff (when the money could be used for medical research or something, blahblahblah), but... well, why don't you just tell us: why do *you* say it is "incredibly important for everyone"?

Cheers,
Jon

> Entertaining, fascinating, and all the rest. "Incredibly
> important"? Not only is it not obvious why spending huuuuuuge
> amounts of money on state of the art CGI stuff (when the money
> could be used for medical research or something, blahblahblah),
> but... well, why don't you just tell us: why do *you* say it
> is "incredibly important for everyone"?

For one thing video evidence is now potentially useless.

-Carl

C,

> For one thing video evidence is now potentially useless.

OK, got it. I don't know that one needs to go see M:R just to understand that, but I certainly concur. In fact, what *can* anyone rely on anymore, save for live, personal experience.

Some think this is all wonderful; I'm not liking some of the ways the "future" is turning out...

Cheers,
Jon

>In fact, what *can* anyone rely on anymore, save for live,
>personal experience.

Well, a lot of what we rely on is trust. For example,
signatures aren't very robust, but we still use them.

>Some think this is all wonderful; I'm not liking some of
>the ways the "future" is turning out...

I wouldn't count myself in the wonderful crowd. Usually,
tools don't change the balance of good and evil in the
world -- those are homeostatic outcomes of basic human
nature.

That's what I was thinking in 8th grade, anyway.

However, in _2001_ Arthur C. Clarke has this line about
'the tools changing the toolmakers'. Indeed, in _Reloaded_,
Neo is asked by a Zion counselman if there's any difference
between the machines that they rely on for life (in our
case cars or electricity) and those outside that are trying
to destroy Zion (a-bombs, realistic CG video ...).

One could argue that widespread adoption of antidepressants,
TV, has changed human nature.

-Carl

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, "Carl Lumma" <clumma@y...> wrote:

/metatuning/topicId_4828.html#4829

> >Well, I really wasted my time seeing this film. What a bore.
> >Anybody actually *like* it? I hate the idea of these "sequels"
> >too, where you have to see several films to get the entire. In
> >fact, _matrix reloaded_ was somewhat confusing due to the fact
> >that, I believe, there was an assumption that people had already
> >seen the *first* installment, which I hadn't...
>
> It's a shame you weren't stopped from seeing it before the first
> film.... it's no wonder you didn't have a clue what was happening.
>

***Glad you liked it, Carl. I knew somebody would... Well, frankly,
I think most of the problem is that I hadn't seen the first film
since it looks as though with this kind of series you really have to
be in on the whole thing...

The special effects were incredible, I must admit...

Joseph

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, "Jon Szanto" <JSZANTO@A...> wrote:

/metatuning/topicId_4828.html#4832

> C,
>
> > For one thing video evidence is now potentially useless.
>
> OK, got it. I don't know that one needs to go see M:R just to
understand that, but I certainly concur. In fact, what *can* anyone
rely on anymore, save for live, personal experience.
>
> Some think this is all wonderful; I'm not liking some of the ways
the "future" is turning out...
>
> Cheers,
> Jon

***Come to think of it, there was one scene where the "hero"... by
the way, is he in a kind of cape because the high school kids who
are "intellectuals" or "offbeats" wear these long trenchcoats and
such like?? Probably if I were their age, I'd end up in that group...

Annnnnywaaaay: in this one scene they have 10s and then 100s of the
same cat in a suit who multiplies himself and fights the hero. Now,
*that* must have been done, obviously, with computer graphics and it
was nothing less than astonishing...

I'm liking this film more and more every minute, and I don't think
it's just because youse guys are "educating" me about it... Maybe...

J. Pehrson

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@...>

> ***Come to think of it, there was one scene where the "hero"... by
> the way, is he in a kind of cape because the high school kids who
> are "intellectuals" or "offbeats" wear these long trenchcoats and
> such like?? Probably if I were their age, I'd end up in that group...

Really?

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/Living/GMA030519MatrixLegalCases.html

I noticed that look in your eyes JP,
and that is why I stay out of your neighborhood.
Please don't come to any of my shows. ;)

* David Beardsley
* microtonal guitar
* http://biink.com/db

The Matrix Motive?
Investigators & Attorneys Say The Matrix Was a Factor in Murder Cases

May 19- Could the Matrix movie phenomenon really inspire
violent or mentally disturbed individuals to act out sadistic fantasies?

The Matrix Reloaded made Hollywood history this
weekend when it took in $93.3 million at the box
office, generating the highest-grossing R-rated opening ever.

Meanwhile, the original film, The Matrix, which inspired
the sequel, has been linked to several violent crimes over the past four
years.

The plot of the film, which blurs the line between reality
and fantasy, is that computers have taken over the Earth,
leaving some humans existing in a computer-simulated
world where they battle for survival.

Columbine Massacre

When Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold attacked
Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, killing
13 people and themselves, investigators said the
killers evoked Neo, Keanu Reeves' character in The Matrix.

The two teens were known for wearing long black
trench coats similar to the one "Neo" wears in the
film and for calling themselves the trench coat mafia.

The Movie Defense

Attorneys for a 19-year-old who shot his parents to
death last February claim he was obsessed with The Matrix.

Josh Cooke, of Oakton, Va., shot his parents with a 1
2-gauge shotgun that was similar to one of the weapons "Neo" uses in the
film.

Cooke wore a trench coat, had a huge poster
from the film in his room and even believed he
lived inside The Matrix, his defense attorney, Rachel Fierro, has argued.

Lee Malvo, one of the accused Washington-area
snipers, is said to have been obsessed with the world
of blurred realities and mind control portrayed in The Matrix as well.

A note written by 18-year-old Malvo in jail reads:
"Free yourself of The Matrix."

University of Wisconsin communications professor
Joanne Cantor says there have been other murder
cases in which criminals referenced other violent
films, but the professor says perpetrators who
reference The Matrix tend to provide many more details from the film.

"I think all violent movies have some tendency to
encourage violence in particularly susceptible individuals,"
Cantor said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America.
"This movie, I think, has an extra component of the
blurring between fantasy and reality," she said.

It's not known if The Matrix will form part of Malvo's
defense, but the defense has been used successfully in
a few murder cases across the country.

'Not Guilty'

Vadim Mieseges, 27, of San Francisco dismembered
his landlady without provocation three years ago.
He told police he did it after he had been "sucked
into The Matrix." A judge accepted his plea of not guilty by reason of
insanity.

Tonda Lynn Ansley of Hamilton, Ohio, made references
to the film after she was arrested in the July 2002
fatal shooting of Sherry Corbett, 55, a Miami
University professor whose house she had been renting.

Ansley's statement to police made reference to the
The Matrix as she suggested that she was drugged
to make her think the things she envisioned were dreams.

"They commit a lot of crimes in The Matrix. That's
where you go to sleep at night and they drug you and
take you somewhere else and then they bring you back
and put you in bed and, when you wake up, you think
that it's a bad dream," she told police.

A judge ruled that Ansley was innocent by reason
of insanity last week at a pretrial hearing.

Warner Bros. Pictures, which released the sequel to
The Matrix this week, said there is no connection
between the movie and the killings. In a statement,
the studio expressed condolences to the victims of violent crimes.

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, David Beardsley <db@b...> wrote:

/metatuning/topicId_4828.html#4840

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...>
>
> > ***Come to think of it, there was one scene where the "hero"... by
> > the way, is he in a kind of cape because the high school kids who
> > are "intellectuals" or "offbeats" wear these long trenchcoats and
> > such like?? Probably if I were their age, I'd end up in that
group...
>
> Really?
>
>
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/Living/GMA030519MatrixLegalCases.ht
ml
>
> I noticed that look in your eyes JP,
> and that is why I stay out of your neighborhood.
> Please don't come to any of my shows. ;)
>
> * David Beardsley
> * microtonal guitar
> * http://biink.com/db
>
>

***That's a good one, David. All will be fine as long as you're up
in front and don't turn your BACK! :)

Actually, though, I was thinking about _Matrix Reloaded_ again and it
was curiously *bloodless...* For all the fighting, if you can call
it that: smacking sounds and people flying around, there was very
little *violence* in the sense that one sees gore, or dismemberment
or any other such stuff...

JP

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@...>

> Actually, though, I was thinking about _Matrix Reloaded_ again and it
> was curiously *bloodless...* For all the fighting, if you can call
> it that: smacking sounds and people flying around, there was very
> little *violence* in the sense that one sees gore, or dismemberment
> or any other such stuff...

Sort of like the news coverage of the invasion of Iraq!

* David Beardsley
* microtonal guitar
* http://biink.com/db

>Well, frankly, I think most of the problem is that I hadn't
>seen the first film since it looks as though with this kind
>of series you really have to be in on the whole thing...

Totally.

>Annnnnywaaaay: in this one scene they have 10s and then 100s
>of the same cat in a suit who multiplies himself and fights
>the hero. Now, *that* must have been done, obviously, with
>computer graphics and it was nothing less than astonishing...

The "camera" moves at speeds up to, something like 2000 mph
in that scene.

>I'm liking this film more and more every minute, and I don't
>think it's just because youse guys are "educating" me about it...

Go see the first one right away, dude! :)

-Carl

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, "Carl Lumma" <clumma@y...> wrote:

/metatuning/topicId_4828.html#4843

> Go see the first one right away, dude! :)
>
> -Carl

***Willdoo... Actually, they could make some money by having maybe
one of the theatres showing the *first* one. Then people could
*catch up* and go back to the movies for the recent release... And
they also could let people know about the necessity of that...

JP

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@...>

> --- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, "Carl Lumma" <clumma@y...> wrote:
>
> /metatuning/topicId_4828.html#4843
>
> > Go see the first one right away, dude! :)
> >
> > -Carl
>
>
> ***Willdoo... Actually, they could make some money by having maybe
> one of the theatres showing the *first* one. Then people could
> *catch up* and go back to the movies for the recent release... And
> they also could let people know about the necessity of that...

It's out on DVD.

* David Beardsley
* microtonal guitar
* http://biink.com/db

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, David Beardsley <db@b...> wrote:

/metatuning/topicId_4828.html#4847

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...>
>
>
> > --- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, "Carl Lumma" <clumma@y...>
wrote:
> >
> > /metatuning/topicId_4828.html#4843
> >
> > > Go see the first one right away, dude! :)
> > >
> > > -Carl
> >
> >
> > ***Willdoo... Actually, they could make some money by having
maybe
> > one of the theatres showing the *first* one. Then people could
> > *catch up* and go back to the movies for the recent release...
And
> > they also could let people know about the necessity of that...
>
> It's out on DVD.
>
>
> * David Beardsley
> * microtonal guitar
> * http://biink.com/db

***Thanks, David. Yes, I see that Amazon has it...

JP

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@...>
To: <metatuning@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 10:01 AM
Subject: [metatuning] Re: matrix reloaded

> --- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, "Carl Lumma" <clumma@y...> wrote:
>
> /metatuning/topicId_4828.html#4843
>
> > Go see the first one right away, dude! :)
> >
> > -Carl
>
>
> ***Willdoo... Actually, they could make some money by having maybe
> one of the theatres showing the *first* one. Then people could
> *catch up* and go back to the movies for the recent release... And
> they also could let people know about the necessity of that...
>
> JP

or you could just wait until the 3rd (and supposedly final)
episode is released, then buy the whole DVD boxed set.

:)

-monz

> or you could just wait until the 3rd (and supposedly final)
> episode is released, then buy the whole DVD boxed set.

Which is precicely what I intend to do. Except that for JP,
he'll be missing out on the theater experiences. My advice
to him is:

() Rent the first one on DVD.
() Go see the 2nd one again, while it's still in the theater.
() Go see the 3rd one in the theater.
() Get the 3-disc boxed set.

Then, when you're kids go to college, go ask the Watchoutski
bros. for tuition. :)

Actually, when I saw the original Matrix film in '99, I didn't
like it. But later viewings of my friend's DVD changed my mind.

-Carl

I believe Reloaded is going to be released in Imax format shortly. I will go
see it for the third time then.

Dante

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carl Lumma [mailto:clumma@...]
> Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 9:25 PM
> To: metatuning@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [metatuning] Re: matrix reloaded
>
>
> > or you could just wait until the 3rd (and supposedly final)
> > episode is released, then buy the whole DVD boxed set.
>
> Which is precicely what I intend to do. Except that for JP,
> he'll be missing out on the theater experiences. My advice
> to him is:
>
> () Rent the first one on DVD.
> () Go see the 2nd one again, while it's still in the theater.
> () Go see the 3rd one in the theater.
> () Get the 3-disc boxed set.
>
> Then, when you're kids go to college, go ask the Watchoutski
> bros. for tuition. :)
>
> Actually, when I saw the original Matrix film in '99, I didn't
> like it. But later viewings of my friend's DVD changed my mind.
>
> -Carl
>
>
>
> Meta Tuning meta-info:
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>
>

>I believe Reloaded is going to be released in Imax format
>shortly. I will go see it for the third time then.
>
> Dante

:)

Actually, this strikes me as odd, since AFAIK it wasn't
filmed in IMAX.

-Carl

"NOTE: MATRIX RELOADED will be digitally remastered for IMAX Theaters using
the IMAX DMR conversion, a process that take a 35mm film print and outputs
it to true 70mm size and resolution. The only other films before this to get
the DMR conversion were APOLLO 13 and STAR WARS II."

http://www.filmstew.com/Content/DailyNews/Details.asp?ContentID=5731&Pg=1

Dante

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carl Lumma [mailto:clumma@...]
> Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2003 12:24 PM
> To: metatuning@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [metatuning] Re: matrix reloaded
>
>
> >I believe Reloaded is going to be released in Imax format
> >shortly. I will go see it for the third time then.
> >
> > Dante
>
> :)
>
> Actually, this strikes me as odd, since AFAIK it wasn't
> filmed in IMAX.
>
> -Carl
>
>
>
> Meta Tuning meta-info:
>
> To unsubscribe, send an email to:
> metatuning-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
> Web page is http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/metatuning/
>
> To post to the list, send to
> metatuning@yahoogroups.com
>
> You don't have to be a member to post.
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>

>"NOTE: MATRIX RELOADED will be digitally remastered for IMAX
>Theaters using the IMAX DMR conversion, a process that take a
>35mm film print and outputs it to true 70mm size and resolution.
>The only other films before this to get the DMR conversion were
>APOLLO 13 and STAR WARS II."

Wow, I'm there. I'm skeptical, though, about getting something
for nothing. I'd imagine you'd run afoul of graininess (ok,
I admit I didn't read the article).

-Carl