Scattered misc

[jazzfish]

Saturday brought with it the enlightening discovery that the Farm House restaurant doesn't serve lunch on weekends. However, E, Z, J., Mo, and I went to Tacky Texas instead, and good food was had. (The perceived goodness may be related to the time of 'lunch' consumption being approximately three o'clock.)

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"I'm not seeking treatment because I don't want anything to interfere with the recording. Well, except DYING." --Warren Zevon, late November 2002
The Zevon special on VH1 was pretty good for what it was, which was a retrospective of the past year, and the process of recording the new album (which, from the soundbites, will be better than Life'll Kill Ya but not as good as My Ride's Here). It was a really cool 45 minutes, and I'd certainly watch it again. I dunno. I think I was expecting more of a career-long retrospective. Oh well, you take what you can get.

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Saw Matrix Reloaded on Friday night. Not much more to say than I had the first couple times. This time I feel like I fully understood almost everything about the scene with the Architect except for why he told Neo that Trinity was dying. Choice, he says, is necessary; but never does he say that it has to be fully informed choice. (This rapidly devolves into speculations on the nature of 'freedom.')
When the Oracle asks Neo what he's dreamed about, she sounds honestly curious-- maybe she can only predict events in the Matrix?
Architect: program or human? I'd been pretty firmly convinced that he was program, since I firmly believe that he and the Oracle are set up to be diametrically opposed in every way... but 'in every way' implies that (unlike her) he's not a program.
One of the brief images we get during the trailer after the credits (you did all stay through the credits, right?) is of Seraph holding two guns. This fills me with a great deal of joy, as I imagine he will be able to do a more than passable Chow Yun-Fat impression.

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Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents.
--Arthur Schopenhauer

Comments

[idoru.livejournal.com]

hee.. when my grandfather still lived on Prices Fork Rd [ie before he died] we'd get lunch at Macado's a lot when in B'burg.

[ndkid.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm... do you feel that the Merovingian is a previous One? Originally, I was willing to buy that, but his constant references to "[Neo's] predecessors" and his collection of rogue programs makes me feel this is less likely, especially since I got the impression from the Architect listening to it again that the One probably becomes the first Prophet of the new Zion on each incarnation. Not to mention I have to believe that Neo would've been surprised to find that the Oracle had sent him to meet a human.

I would buy your speculation on the Oracle. She is a program, after all.

Zeus and Hera could be antagonists, but that didn't mean one of them had to be mortal. I'm still trying to decide whether the "The Oracle?" "Please." between Neo and The Architect is supposed to leave open the possibility that The Oracle *isn't* the mother of the Matrix.

Do you see the crows flying away at the beginning of the Neo vs. Smiths scene and thing, "well, at least they weren't doves"?

I was amused that you, nixve, vtkatt, and I were the only people I saw still sitting through the credits for the trailer. I really do like that trailer.

[jazzfish]

Macado's is good stuff. There's one in Xiansburg, too, that's about half the size and a third as crowded. The scary-stuff-on-the-walls factor is about the same, though. :)

[idoru.livejournal.com]

there's something uncannily appealing about a restaurant that has like.. King Cong and cars and stuff on the walls/ceiling.. that happens to sell jelly bellies, and give out frisbees with some of the platters.

[jazzfish]

elphie (formerly meeshdoublel) had a really good post when the movie first came out about duality and opposition and gender and things like that. She speculated wildly that Merv was an ex-One, but I don't buy it-- I'm pretty well convinced at this point that he's code. I'll hunt up the post when I'm back at my own machine. Anyway, one of the things she mentioned was that Morpheus and Niobe complement each other very well, whereas Merv & Persephone take all the negative aspects of their respective gender roles. I'd thought she was the one who mentioned the Oracle/Archie duality, but I must have made that up myself, although it's certainly applicable to the same theory.

I think "The Oracle?" "Please." is meant to indicate Archie's lack of respect for the title and/or the program bearing it. Which would go along with the idea of masculine domination, crushing feminine ideas. (I think I really want to hear pictsy's take on this.)

Hey! And that means that the humans are more balanced than the machines, with the Niobe/Morpheus being the good and the others being the bad! How odd. Requires more thought, and a better writing environment in which to think.

*laugh* I suspect strongly that that was the whole point of the crows.

It's an excellent trailer. Basically non-spoilery, gives you a bit of setup, and some very cool imagery.

Oh, and who was it exactly that wound up using the LJ code I gave you?