sheesh.

[solipsistnation]

Thing that annoy me:

- No, dork, when my auction says "Will only ship within the US," it means I will NOT ship to Thailand. Thanks for wasting my time.

- Having to a: browbeat Dell into admitting that a RAID controller that does very strange things every few days is actually a problem and not a coincidence, a bad battery, or designed to work that way, and then b: having to browbeat them into actually shipping me replacement parts.

- Software that assumes that your computer and OS are entirely non-customized and demand control of things like /etc/passwd and /etc/groups and break if they don't get that control.

Actually, that's about it.

And speaking of that software, I just set up Sourceforge for WPI. It's very neat, or turned out to be once I gave up any pretense of being able to have the computer it's on a CCC-ified system.

Last night we watched Blade Runner. Boy, I'm glad I got that DVD used, 'cause it is for sure a crappy transfer. Still a good movie, although some of it seems more abruptly edited than I remember.

I am now listening to Fred Eaglesmith.

Comments

[stophittinyrslf.livejournal.com]

the abruptness served to highlight some things, i think... i certainly don't think it detracted from the movie, in any case.

[eccles.livejournal.com]

Didn't Amanda keep saying she was holding out for the special edition Bladerunner DVD?

[simonb.livejournal.com]

Having to a: browbeat Dell into admitting that a RAID controller that does very strange things every few days is actually a problem and not a coincidence, a bad battery, or designed to work that way, and then b: having to browbeat them into actually shipping me replacement parts.

You know, that sounds remarkably similar to a problem we're having with a Dell RAID controller here; its not one of the built-in ones in a PowerEdge series is it perchance ?

[simonb.livejournal.com]

You don't mean this version do you ?

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

I think that's the same crap transfer, just in a prettier box...

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Yes, in fact, it is.

It's a 2650 with a PERC3/Di integrated RAID controller. Are you seeing the battery shut down every couple of days, thus disabling the write cache and sending performance through the floor?

If so, call Dell support, ask to speak to a manager (this should get you to the "Escalations Department," AKA "The People Who Know What They're Doing"), tell them you need an updated 2650 motherboard to fix the RAID battery problem, and don't let them go until they promise to ship you one. I had to go to my salesman and say "What do they MEAN this is how it's designed?" before I got to talk to Escalations, and they _immediately_ knew what it was and what to do about it.

Don't let them give you any shit about sending you a new battery, either. It's most likely not the battery.

[lobotomymonkey.livejournal.com]

I'd be wary of any software that demanded control of /etc/passwd and /etc/groups. That's just asking for trouble.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah. :/ You know that and I know that... Feh.

It's all in order for it to intergrate with CVS, which is a nightmare to begin with.

[gambl0r.livejournal.com]

Man, I just saw Blade Runner for the first time last week. The transfer was hoooooooorrible. I also couldn't believe that the menus were so bad. I lvoe the main menu is a HUGE WB LOGO with no Play button. Then you go to chapter select, and only every-three chapters are listed. And of course there are no special features. Plus the snapper case. It's gotta be the worst DVD I've ever seen.

The movie was good. But slow. All SciFi movies from the 70's and 80's seem to be soooo slowly paced. I was just expecting the movie to be a little more extrordinary, since that is how I was told it was. I liked it, and there were some cool ideas (I loved the photo enhancing scene, and the look of the futuristic city), but it seemed too slow and hokey to be this 'classic' movie that everyone describes it as.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Well, it's not an action movie-- it's a philosophical examination, and as far as the cinematography goes, it's as much about the shape and the feel of the world as it is about the people in the world. I was struck while watching how by how much it actually shares with Lost in Translation-- people disconnected from the world around them watching the city slide by outside car windows, visible through the reflections but lost in their own thoughts.

Most SF movies these days are really action movies with special effects, and less about the world or the ideas or the actual "speculative fiction" than they are about flying car chases and gunfights and CGI. Blade Runner is, in fact, almost unique in SF movies in that it's actually science fiction in the classic sense of the exploration of how changes in the world effect society and the world and the way people live. It's a matter of philosophy and approach, and so many movies made under the name "science fiction" these days are really just westerns or action movies or generic drama of various sorts with better window dressing. They may give lip service to the idea that they are exploring their hypothetical worlds, but in the end they're just shoot-outs and car chases with more expensive special effects.

I like movies like Blade Runner and Lost in Translation. They pause and breathe and give the story room to move. They aren't packed with thrills, but they aren't supposed to be. There may be thrilling things, or conflict expressed somehow, but it's not the core of the story. And Blade Runner, while it has terrible violence, makes sure that violence is meaningful and effects those around it-- Rachael shooting Leon, and how that changes her, Deckard's realizations about himself after he kills Zhora and Pris, and the final chase through the hotel all change the people in them, and none of them emerge mentally unscathed. That's also something missing from most SF-like action movies.

Mm, anyway. I'm mostly disappointed by what people are making as SF movies these days. It seems like decent SF is rare. I have great hopes for the adaptation of A Scanner Darkly that Linklater is working on now...

[pir.livejournal.com]

Do you have the original blade runner or the director's cut ? I have the latter and although I havn't watched it in a while didn't think it was that bad a transfer...

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

I don't think they ever released the original as a DVD...

[jon3.livejournal.com]

directors cut of release version?

I have the directors cut I got years a go, and the transfer is excellent.

I'd burn you a copy if I knew how to actually use my DVD burner on videos.

[simonb.livejournal.com]

We've seen that problem before, but on a different Dell. The problem we're currently having is a failure to write; Dell don't appear to know what they're doing as they are currently asking our PC guy to change some management software and update the network card drivers!