So I went and saw Cars. And as with The Incredibles, it was with some degree of apprehension that I entered the theatre. Would Pixar put my doubts to shame and be astounding, yet again? Or would the combination of Owen Wilson, an obviously rather pat storyline, and anthropomorphic automobiles finally be enough sillyness to sink Pixar’s latest creation?

Indeed, this time around the response is much more mixed than ever before. There was very little doubt that The Incredibles was spectacular–enumerating its various assets serves little purpose. But what is it in Cars that gives pause? Read on…

Originally, I had dismissed Firewall. My analysis was based on its miserable trailer and a mountain of other people’s negative opinions.

And so, it was with a certain level of despair that I was dragged by Jeff and others out to Galaxy for that late-night first-weekend screening. As it turned out, Firewall was a good deal less bad than I’d anticipated—indeed, an entertaining way to spend 2 hours and $7.50.

What was the difference between the trailer and the picture? Read on…

A blank luggage slip, a 1973 dollar, a sketch of a woman, and two carefully clipped news items.

What do they have in common? All discovered between pages of the Book of Bread, purchased for $9 at Old Goat Books.

Read on…

The Firewall trailer opens with chilling voiceovers from Harrison Ford. “Someone’s been trying to hack in and compromise my identity… You think somebody got my information off the internal network?“

Do members of the lay public grok Firewall’s vision of computer security? I buy into the Vegas of Ocean’s Eleven and the medicine of Grey’s Anatomy, but it’s because I’m hopelessly unfamiliar with gambling and biology.

So does non-geekhood allow one to suspend their disbelief enough to enjoy this flick? To believe that the process of identity theft is simply “hacking in” to some single master database maintained by who-knows-who? That a victim would be aware of attempts to perform this feat when it hasn’t yet seen success? Read on…

I don’t normally use this space to express negative opinions, but I’m making an exception for the Low Fat Yogurt commercial from Tim Hortons.

The advertisement in question is not simply annoying, it is offensive.

A trim, red-haired woman is featured, enjoying a fruit and yogurt cup on a couch. A small crowd gathers outside the window, presumably to observe her consuming the treat.

On seeing these people, she assumes the look of a trapped animal. “It’s low fat,” she pleads, eyes wide, “It’s low fat!” Read on…

I’ve unsubscribed from Slashdot, in favour of Reddit.

To the casual reader, Reddit is a page of interesting links. To hardcore Redditors (the “mob”), it’s a steady stream of fresh content, each piece to be evaluated as a candidate for the +1 vote of confidence, or the -1 vote of dismissal. Accumulate enough points—quickly enough—and it’ll appear on the front page of the site.

Perfect system, right? Read on…

Ever since Dave Shea linked to them, I’ve been fascinated by John Langdon’s Ambigrams.

I got his book Wordplay for Christmas, which is a fascinating series of new ambigrams, interspersed with philosophical musings and other treats.

Mike

Looking at my DVD library, I’ve pretty much come to terms with my tastes: drama, intrigue, and witty relationship comedy. Action just doesn’t do it for me. And horror definitely doesn’t do it for me.

Case: Minority Report. For an “action” movie, we’ve only three major action sequences, and all of them border on the ridiculous. A runaway jetpack that grills hamburgers? A factory that builds a car with Tom Cruise alive and kicking inside it? A “flush the tank” lever that no one knew about until the moment a hero needed a quick getaway? Read on…

Web developers, repeat after me: Flash is bad.

Flash navigation removes right-click functionality. It breaks bots and search engines. It fills up the advertiser’s arsenal with entirely new ways to obscure content and frustrate users. Sites built entirely in Flash break the basic metaphor of the Internet—the page. You can’t link or bookmark anything, and if you mistakenly hit the back-button, you’re back to square one.

And yet, there’s been some really neat stuff happening with Flash. Especially when combined with Javascript to provide unobtrusive enhancements to pages. I have here two examples… I also have a really neat idea, but I’m not talking about that until it works; I hate vapourware too. Read on…

First Firefly, then Wonderfalls, and now… Veronica Mars. Finally I’m hooked on a show that hasn’t been axed by FOX!

Nancy Drew, with a murder, a rape, a missing parent, and a corrupt sheriff. And the most hard-boiled 17-year-old you’re ever likely to meet. Read on…