Fate and Immodium Plus

I’m heading out to India tomorrow. Today is the first leg of the journey, when I, Andy from Microsoft and the team all meet up at Heathrow Airport in London.

So this morning I sallied forth to the chemists with my copy of “Which”, the consumer magazine, which recently published a foreign travel special. In amongst a whole slew of scary statistics about how likely you are to fall ill if you ever leave this sceptred isle were some recommendations for various potions and lotions which would keep the nastiest things at bay and reduce their effect as much as possible.

With a bit of luck it all stays in the boxes....

This is of course insurance, in that I’m buying it because, having spent 35 quid on the various cans and tablets; with a bit of luck I’ll not have to use any of the stuff. Of course if I decide to take a chance and buy nothing then I’m pretty much doomed. Then again, I’ve not had a lot of success in the past second guessing fate...

Hiatus Status

I'm just about to dash out of the door and catch a taxi on the first leg of the trip to India. So blog posts might bet a bit interrupted. On the other hand, the ones which make it through might have nice pictures.

Sent Packing

Been packing for the trip to India for the Imagine Cup finals.

Time to pack gadgets and vital equipment : 2 hours

Time to pack clothes : 90 seconds.

I may not be very satorially elegant. But I will have all my power supplies with me....

Cars the movie

 

Not as annoying as I was expecting

The critics have been very unkind to Cars. Previous Pixar movies (Monsters, Toy Story, The Incredibles) have been lauded as great almost before they hit the screen. Not so Cars, the build up was muted, and the reception somewhat ambivalent. I can kind of see where the critics were coming from. The idea of a world run for and by cars is  a little hard to swallow. Somehow hairy monsters living in a parallel universe powered by scared children seems a lot more credible. However, if you work a bit harder on suspending your disbelief belief you will find a lot to like about the movie.

For a start there is the look of the film. Pixar can do pictures. They can really do pictures. The images of the cars are wonderful, and Pixar pull off traditionally hard things like water, trees, gravel, smoke etc etc with almost contemptuous ease. Only mud seems to give them a problem, and it is still around the best looking mud you will see in a computer drawn movie.  It is worth seeing just for the scenery. Whether you believe in the cars or not the way they look is just incredible.

The story is a completely hack effort, no twists, no turns, you can just about set your watch by the progression of the hero as he/it becomes a more human car. There is some great imagination at work though, and some lovely visual gags. I'm sure if I watch it ten more times I'll find ten more great things that I missed each time.

I think at this point I should come clean and say that I've never liked Owen Wilson. He always seems to me like a big heavy weight that pulls down any picture he is in . However, in Cars he does a workmanlike job as the voice of the red racer with a lot to learn about life, and his surrounding voices are all well realised.

If you don't go to see this film because of the mediocre reviews then you will lose out. There are some bits which are so funny you will be laughing out loud (I was, and I certainly didn't expect to be doing that) There are also some tear jerky moments and a solid gold happy ending which I think we could all do with around now. Recommended.

The Walls Have Ears

We were in the tearoom having one of our high level discussions (as I remember the question was "Why were the 'Yellow Bus Company' busses never actually yellow, but usually grey" - the prevailing opinion was that the yellow paint had been scraped off them and used for no-parking marks on the road).

Anyhoo, at the height of the discourse one of the large posters in the room suddenly peeled itself off the wall and seemed to be making for the door.  I hope it wasn't a statement on the quality of the conversation.