Over the past few days, I've had the dubious privilege of defending XBL in www-style (archived). The person saying that XBL is redundant did not seem to fully comprehend what problem XBL was designed to solve, so I have had to carefully think about the issue. The result: a rather detailed explanation which addresses some aspects of the problem which I have not previously seen explained. (The juicy stuff is all above the horizontal line, in the first 35% of the e-mail.)
Hopefully it will answer some questions you may have about the technology.
The film was not that impressive. It has a predictable, boring story, and
in several cases I was left wondering if I was maybe missing something — in one notable
scene in a bar, for instance, the characters appeared to be sharing a private joke to which I wasn't invited.
I didn't find the "funny" scenes particularly amusing (although there were a few really funny
bits in the "serious" scenes), and I didn't really find I identified with the characters... they
all felt like exaggerated stereotypes.
On the other hand, the special effects were very good, in that I didn't notice them... the only
reason I know there were some is that I saw an entry for "dog puppet created by" about two thirds
of the way through the credits. Also, the acting was very respectable, given the poor screenplay
the actors were working from.
Overall it felt like a movie created by following instructions in a textbook or stamped out in
some factory in Hollywood, and lacking in any great depth. I wouldn't recommend it.
Earlier today I saw a nativity play featuring, amongst others, my very young nephews — it was adorable! It was quite a fun story: a star falls from the sky, and they visit the police, an astronomer, a parent, father christmas, and finally an angel to try to put it back so that they can save Christmas and make sure they get their presents. The mix of modern commercialism, scientific procedure, and religious myth all in one play was rather striking... and a strange reflection of modern society, in my opinion.
On the other hand, I still don't understand how people can have faith in myths; to me that is ridiculous, and exposing children to such things at a very young age, and putting it forward as fact instead of explaining the difference between myths and theories with supporting evidence, seems highly irresponsible to me. What would you think of a school that taught young children that the Earth was flat?
Tonight I went with some friends to see the Pete Allen Jazz Band perform live in the Memorial Hall, Beckington. A very friendly group, packed hall, great audience, amazing music, lousy food.
So apparently there is a lot more to the story of Once more with feeling being
cut than I originally realised.
It appears there are two official versions of the episode: a 42 minute version, which BBC
showed yesterday, and a 50 minute extended version. The BBC knew about this back in January, when
they berated Sky for planning
to show the 42 minute version, and then promised to
show the full-length version when they discovered that they could. Apparently when Sky heard that
they could show the long version after all, they had it rushed over so that they could show it, and
that is the version they first broadcast (although they also showed the shorter version at least once, as
I understand it).
But the BBC apparently forgot all about this, got the wrong copy, and showed that, much to the
dismay of many fans. On the positive side, they have
realised their mistake and
are going to show the extended version tonight. TiVo users, don't forget to tell your magic devices
that tonight's showing is a different version and should be recorded as well!
Based on the rumours I read in various newsgroups and bulletin boards, it appears the UK has a
long history of having Buffy episodes cut: back at the start of the year, there was a petition to
have Sky show season 6 later so that they wouldn't cut it. Does anyone know what came of that? I
didn't notice any edits while watching the later episodes, but I don't know if that's just because
I wasn't paying attention of if there weren't any. (Having a TiVo means I have no clue when programmes
are actually shown... was the time slot moved to after the watershed?)
By the way, why isn't there a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan site as thorough as the Babylon 5
fan site The Lurker's Guide? Are Buffy fans just not as nerdy as B5 fans?
I mean, I can watch And the Sky Full of Stars and then immediately go online and find that the Horoscopes were
on page 8A of the Universe Today newspaper in that
episode, or I can watch War Without End, Part Two and then find that the box of tools Zathras uses
cost $10, or I could watch
Moments of Transition, and then quickly check that the appearance of the Agamemnon is
indeed an unintentional glitch,
which was corrected in later airings. And, StarTrek fans have written hugely
detailed analyses of the StarDate system, compiled hideously
comprehensive lists of every single star system, planet, country, and stellar phenomenon in the StarTrek universe, and
analysed the physics of the Warp drive to an
obscene level.
Where is the encyclopedia of Buffy demons? The episode analysis explaining what Dawn's line
The hardest thing in this world is to live in it is in reference to? The list of all the
spells that Willow, Tara, and other witches have cast?