Category: All

All posts across the whole website belong to this category. They might also belong to some other categories as well, but this one holds all of them. Hence the descriptive name – All.

It’s not the move, it’s the “after” life

There is a lot of noise going about these news:

The Foreign Ministry is migrating all of its 11.000 desktops to GNU/Linux and other Open source applications.

That’s good.  Both the noise and the news.  But it’s not the first time that we hear about this or that government office moving to Linux desktops.  It happened before.  What I am more interested in hearing is the “after” life.  Something along the lines of “Look, we moved to Linux desktops one year ago and we are doing better than ever.  We are happier and we also spend less money”.  How many of those moved roll back to what they had before?  Why did they roll back? How many stay?  How many of those who stay are more satisfied?  How much cheaper it is for them?

That’s what I’d like to hear.

Passwords are like women

I don’t know if this was posted by someone else somewhere else before (probably it was), but that’s what I came up with yesterday, while explaining our password policy to one of the (male) colleagues.

Passwords are like women:

  • you should have as many of them as you can
  • you should change them as often as you can
  • you should never share them with another man

Judging by reaction, I got the point across.

Death Race

Just came back from watching “Death Race” in the movies.  Back when I saw the trailer for this film, I thought to myself that it looks like a very safe recipe. I mean, you have Jason Statham as a driver, lots of cards, some hot girls, plenty of chases and shooting.  What are the chances of it going bad?  Practically none. But what are the chances of it turning into something interesting and original?

It turned out that whatever were the chances, they weren’t enough.  On one hand, we indeed have Jason Statham and lots of cars, shooting, and explosions.  The special effects were done nicely, and there was not much screen time without something brutal happening.  On the other hand, there is nothing new.  In fact, the story and the circumstances were simplified a lot, and in such a way that there is no need to explain anything or to connect the story pieces together with long talks or travels.  The plot is simple and uncovers itself in all obviousity (did I just come up with a new word?) at approximately the fifth minute of the movie.

Was it bad?  No, it wasn’t.  It was worth every penny, and was well worth the time I spent.  Chases were nice, characters were not bad, and I liked most of the effects.  The whole thing is pretty dynamic and enjoyable.  It was also made for the big screen.  But seeing it once is enough and I doubt that I’ll buy or rent it on DVD.  At least, any time soon.

An overall rating of 6 out of 10 is, I think, appropriate.

Righteous Kill

Either one of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino is enough to attract attention to the movie.  When they are both in the same movie – that’s something that needs to be seen, no matter what the critics or ratings say.  And that’s why I went to watch “Righteous Kill” today.

Altogether, the film was rather average – not much dynamics and action for a police movie, predictable story with a lot of cliches, dialogs really off sometimes, and so, and so forth.  But.  There was enough good acting, and there was enough thought provoking.  I mean it’s not a philosophical movie by any measure, but it covers a few morals and gives enough time to the audience to poke around the good, the evil, and the fine line between the two.

Overall, maybe not worthy the big screen, but good enough for a DVD rent.  6.5 out of 10.

Max Payne

I just came back from the movies – watched “Max Payne” with a friend of mine.  I wanted to see this film since I came across the trailer.  I know a few people who were waiting quite a bit for this film, since there is a video game with the same title, and, if I am not mistaken, everything started with a comics.  But don’t take my word for it.

The film turned out to be very pleasing visually.  Lots and lots of really cool special effects, focal points, perspective changes, and the like.  Lots of things are done properly – snow, water, fire, broken glass, flying bullets, explosions, and so on and so forth.  And all that comes together with nice soundtrack.  Pleasant experience.

As for the rest of it – the film was pretty weak.  The story is one of those usual stories that you have seen in a million other stories.  Characters aren’t very well developed though.  And the best characters never live up to their fame.  Nicely looking lady – killed in the beginning.  Really evil looking guy – even worse.  There is a lack of major battle, and whatever replaces it is a sorry excuse.  Disappointing.

Altogether, I’d give it a 6.5 out of 10.  If you like good visuals, then go see it on the big screen.  You won’t be disappointed no matter how lacking the rest of the film is.  But if you need more than just special effects, than wait for the DVD to come out.  That’s about all I can say about this one.