Undisputed II: Last Man Standing

I saw Undisputed II: Last Man Standing on DVD last night. Michael Jai White plays an ex-champion boxer who is in Russia filming a commercial. He’s framed and sent to prison for the sole purpose of forcing him to fight in a prison style Ultimate Fighter Competition (UFC). It’s a pretty derivative plot, but it was quite enjoyable.

Michael Jai White seems to get bigger every time I seem him. He was pretty big in Universal Soldier: The Return, but in this film he looks like he might have overdosed on the steriod pies. He still seems quick with his hands, and I know he’s very flexible, but in this film he does very little fighting with his legs.

The most impressive thing for me was the villain, played by Scott Adkins. Like MJW, Scott is very muscular guys, but he can so some amazing stuff. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a big guy move so well. He looks fast, flexible and extremely agile. It would be interesting to see some more of him. He’s in the next Bourne film, The Bourne Ultimatum, so that should make interesting viewing.

Cheers

Tim…

Nokia N95…

Apart from computers, I’ve become a little averse to gadgets. They do appeal to me, but I know I’ll quickly bore of them and get annoyed about the amount of money I’ve wasted on them.

As a result, I’ve been walking round with the worst mobile phone in the world, my digital camera is huge and I don’t own a mp3 player or satellite navigation…

Recently, after getting lost while driving for the 1 billionth time, I decided I wanted satellite navigation. Whilst looking at my options, one of the guys at work mentioned the Nokia N95 mobile phone. It’s got satellite navigation, a 5 megapixel camera, an mp3 player, and you can even use it as a mobile phone… πŸ™‚

In a fit of madness, I got one. It’s a fairly new model, so I got fleeced as far as my contract goes, but I must say I’m pretty happy with it. The satellite navigation seems to work fine. The camera is not as good as a Β£200 point-and-click camera, but it’s as good as I need. So now I have all the gadgets I wanted, conveniently rolled up into one, easily losable device. πŸ™‚

Cheers

Tim…

Curse of the Golden Flower…

I went to see Curse of the Golden Flower at the cinema on Friday night. I was expecting something like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero or House of the Flying Daggers, but that’s not what I got. This was definitely not a martial arts film, although there were a few stylized fight scenes.

The film is focused on the relationships between the Emperor of China during the Tang Dynasty (10th Century), his three sons and his wife. With some fierce sibling rivalry, incest and the most dramatic sets you will ever see, it’s not exactly the story of a regular family.

One thing I found difficult was dealing with the subtitles. Normally this isn’t a problem, but the scenes were so spectacular I sometimesΒ  forgot to read the subtitles. It’s probably worth watching a couple of times. Once for the dialog, and once for the visuals. Either that, or hope the DVD has English dubbing.

If you are expecting to see a high budget martial arts film you will be disappointed. If on the other hand, you want to see an interesting story with totally spectacular sets, it’s a must-see. Overall, I’m glad I went to see it. πŸ™‚

Cheers

Tim…

Upgrade from CentOS 4 to CentOS 5…

I upgraded my main server at home from CentOS 4 to CentOS 5 last night. The upgrade from the installation DVD went OK, but when the upgrade was complete and I tried to check for software updates on the net using “yum update”, it complained about a number of package conflicts. On closer inspection I found that about 10 old packages were still present on the server, causing conflicts with newer versions. I removed the old packages and the software updater ran fine.

Now CentOS 5 is up and running, I guess I need to see what else I’ve broken along the way. I wonder how long it will be before I switch off the transparent windows and wobbly menus? πŸ™‚

As is always the case, it’s better to do a clean OS install rather than an upgrade, but I really couldn’t be bothered. Maybe in a few weeks I’ll blow it away and start again.

Cheers

Tim…

Hot Weekend…

It was a scorcher this weekend. I don’t know what the official temperature was, but it felt really hot. In true British style I caught myself moaning about the heat, only a couple of days after moaning about the cold. We Brits aren’t truly happy unless we can have a weather-related moan. πŸ™‚

I was at a Karate course yesterday. Fortunately the sports hall was mercifully cool, otherwise I think we may have lost a few people. I’m feeling a little worse for wear this morning, but hopefully I’ll pick up in time for tonights Karate class.

Cheers

Tim…

CentOS 5 and Internet Usage Observation…

CentOS 5 has been released. Please wait for me to download it before you try… πŸ™‚

I’ve recently had another reality check about the internet usage patterns of “normal” non-IT folk. I’ve spent years on IT forums, where you often post a question and get a rapid response, but recently I’ve been frequenting a number of stretching and flexibility forums where the response time can be up to days. All of these forums are quite well populated, but unlike IT forums, most of the members don’t spend the whole of their lives in front of a PC, hence the delays involved.

This sort of this just serves to remind me I’m not a “normal” internet user… πŸ™‚

Cheers

Tim…

Struggling for inspiration…

I need a new version of Oracle, and I need it now!

I’ve been using Oracle 10g since it was released, and although I wouldn’t claim to know everything about it, I feel like I’ve already investigated everything in it that interests me. I really need a new version of the database to re-ignite my interest and get me writing articles again.

I know the release date is “second half of 2007”, but I really hope this means July 1st, rather than December 31st. Like a true Oracle junky, I need my new features fix… πŸ™‚

Cheers

Tim…

Sunshine…

I went to the cinema to see Sunshine last night. I thought it was pretty cool, although I don’t think the other people I was with were convinced.

A group of scientists are sent to reignite the dying sun by exploding a bomb the size of Manhattan island. I seem to remember an episode of Star Trek Next Generation with a similar mission, but I may not be remembering correctly. It is very much a space film, but it focuses heavily on the individual characters. I actually felt like I cared about the people, which is more than I can say for 300.

Bits of the film reminded me of 2001/2010 and Event Horizon, but overall it seemed quite fresh.

Cheers

Tim…

Update: I think this is a fair review, but it is a bit of a spoiler, so read it at your peril.