Sun's "Project Looking Glass"

Sun Microsystems (creator of Java) is working on a new 3D desktop interface metaphor dubbed "Project Looking Glass." Check out a demo video (MPEG-4 format) here. This looks like some really inspired stuff.

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"

Here's why people make movies. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is a phenomenal film- an emotional yet playful glimpse into the core of memory, personality, and love. This film's going right to the top echelon of my list of favorites.

"Mystic River"

Wow. I've been a critic of Clint Eastwood in the past, but "Mystic River" is a fantastic film. Expertly directed, some of the best acting I've ever seen, and a great score- composed by Eastwood himself. Seeing it so late in its theatrical release, I had high expectations going in, and they were exceeded.

Microsoft's "Longhorn" vaporware OS looks even further off

Having allowed Windows XP to stagnate and rot on users' desktops for years, Microsoft's been talking up "Longhorn", their code-name for the follow-up version that will supposedly cure all of Windows' woes. Longhorn's been delayed repeatedly, and today, the industry press is reporting that Yukon- the database storage technology that will play a key role in Longhorn- has itself been pushed further back from release. Which will certainly have a negative impact on Longhorn's release schedule.

If Longhorn ships before the second half of 2006, I will be shocked.

More "Passion of the Christ" musings

In the days since I saw the film, my negative feelings toward it have grown stronger. My reaction is based primarily on the massive public attention the film has been receiving, and the opinions of many who are discussing it.

One of the big discussion points relating to the movie revolves around its "accuracy." This is a fool's discussion, in my opinion. The most historically "accurate" "The Passion of the Christ" can ever hope to be is asymptotally very near to 0%. For starters, we have absolutely nothing purely "factual" to compare it to. So the argument dies there.

But furthermore- and this is really what gets me- anyone who sees this movie, with all of its dramatic lighting, its super slow-motion, and its melodramatic music, and honestly believes that it's possible for a real-life event to have in any way resembled what the film depicts, demonstrates an inability to separate themselves from the dramatic devices used by the filmmaker.

I've heard a professional film critic- Joel Siegel- refer to the film as "documentary style." "The Passion of the Christ" is anything but, and I fear that a lot of decent, honest people who believe in the events depicted in the film are being taken advantage of because, as believers, of course they want to believe what they are seeing. Clearly, the film arouses strong emotions in them- why would they challenge the source of these emotions?

The real daring, artful film about the last twelve hours of Jesus's life would have been twelve hours long and would have contained no music or slow motion. Imagine how much more powerful that would have been, witnessing in true documentary-style the real-time brutality against this man, with no melodramatic music, just the sounds and the pace of the reality.

That would have been a film I would have respected artistically.