Film of the year 2005

I have had the chance to go to the cinema a few times this year, thanks to cheap night Tuesdays. I think all the films I have seen have been good, but a few deserve an extra mention.

Team America is a very different comedy, something worth seeing for it's unique humor, and I learnt that the world has three types of people. Batman Begins, Serenity and Domino offered better than expected action. War of the Worlds had a great start but lost it's way a little. One of my favourite directors, Terry Gilliam, provided another visual feast with The Brothers Grimm. While my favourite actor, Jodie Foster, delivered a great performance again in Flightplan. Yet more visual delight came from Tim Burton in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride, the former including an outstanding performance by Johnny Depp. Sin City also provided some of the most unique visuals yet seen on film, with an intriguing story as well. Unleashed had a gripping story and performance by Jet Li, and was a close call for film of the year. Another Jet Li film, Hero, stood out but I have ignored it as it was made in 2002 and released in 2004. For similar reasons The House of Flying Daggers was really a 2004 film that I saw late. However both those films are superb and Hero in particular is a great film. Finally two films stood out as unique in their style, action and script; The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Kung Fu Hustle, with Kung Fu Hustle just winning the title of Film of the year. (Incidentally, Terry Gilliam agreed.)

The contenders (those that I saw at the cinema)
Hero
The House of Flying Daggers
Team America World Police
Elektra
Meet the Fockers
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Star Wars III
War of the Worlds
Sin City
Batman Begins
Kung Fu Hustle
Fantastic Four
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Unleashed
A History of Violence
Serenity
Domino
Corpse Bride
The Brothers Grimm
Doom
Flightplan
Legend of Zorro
The Chronicles of Narnia
King Kong

I don't dare call her a swot

As can be seen from the movie, her powers increase by the day. Last night she was awarded "Student of the Year", something that was well deserved. The biggest award was yet to come, this time from her class mates, when they gave her the biggest cheer of the night whilst collecting her Green Belt.

Harold Pinter

"It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn't happening. It didn't matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them."

an extract from Harold Pinter's powerful and fascinating Nobel prize acceptance speech.

XHTML or HTML

More failed comments to a post:

My primary role is as a programmer, so coming to web standards from that angle I have always liked the strictness of XHTML and I still things that strict XHTML is great and should be taught so that amateurs like myself start correct and stay that way. Beginners should expect to have to learn stuff, and I think strictness can make learning easier, because it works or it doesn't. The problem, as I see it, is IE. If you are trying to serve something to "the world" then you have to accommodate IE and that's where you might struggle. If you are happy to deliver your stuff your way, or have control over the browsers used, then strictness can be great.

Books in iTunes

I noticed that iTunes can hold PDF books, and as I like using iTunes for organising things I thought I would use iTunes for managing my PDF books.

To add a PDF go to File/ Add to Library... and pick your PDF.
To show your books create a Smart Playlist and set "Kind is PDF document".

I have the Ripping Yarns scripts and a few other books. If only I had time to read them.