...and a completely unnecessary sex scene that added absolutely nothing to the story whatsoever and should not have been there...
Oh? I think you missed the literary reference and it's perhaps the least gratuitous sex scene I know of.
SPOILER
It's not just a wanky literary reference, it builds the main tension of the film. When Trinity reaches her climax, Carrie-Anne gives exactly the same facial expression she uses in Neo's dream when the bullet pierces her heart, and he stops dead. The scene shows that even in their fortress, in the middle of a celebration, in lovemaking, there's something (to) come between them that they may not be able to stop. In some ways the main point of the film. /SPOILER
As for Reloaded not matching up to The Matrix. Fair enough, but you do know that's at least partly cos it's the middle of the story, right ? Of stories I've seen recently, only Babylon 5 is stronger in the middle than either end.
groktr.v. Slang grokked, grokking, groks
To understand profoundly through intuition or empathy. [Coined by Robert A. Heinlein in his Stranger in a Strange Land.]
googletr.v. Slang googled, googling, googles
To have or gain a surface understanding of something. Passing familiarity. Enough to fake deeper knowledge. As from skimming a Table of Contents, or briefly reading the first few results of a google search. [Coined by me, today.]
Mine starts with 1-800. It's a real pain in the ass when people ask for your D/L number and they always double check you aren't giving them a phone number.
Does it help if you break up the numbers differently ? Working help desk I found most Americans* rigidly pre-disposed to hear phone numbers as 3 digits then 4 digits (123 4567). If I gave any other pattern** (eg. 12 34 567) many couldn't even catch the digits (unless they wrote it down and "translated" it). Giving your number as "one-eight-oh oh---" etc, might not trigger their 'phone-number' responses.
cheers,
Shane
*just so my 'merkin friends don't feel picked on: Here in Oz nobody knows whether "area code" refers to phones or mail. Some are so bad that asking for "area code and phone number" gets you their phone number and postcode. Happily you can usually just assume these people are from (07) Queensland;)
**Why use another pattern ? frex to break up misleading pairs/triples.
"Agriculture allowed humans to spend less time..."
In "Guns, Germs and Steel"* Jared Diamond argues that agriculture does not save any time over hunting/gathering. (Work hours get longer, and nutrition gets worse). What it does allow is more people to live in a smaller area, and for some people to control others access to food.
*workplace proxy prevents me finding the ob. amazon.com link
Slashdot Mirror
but on that note, you can redeem the trip by visiting The National Civil Rights Museum http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/about/about.asp
SPOILER
/SPOILER
It's not just a wanky literary reference, it builds the main tension of the film. When Trinity reaches her climax, Carrie-Anne gives exactly the same facial expression she uses in Neo's dream when the bullet pierces her heart, and he stops dead. The scene shows that even in their fortress, in the middle of a celebration, in lovemaking, there's something (to) come between them that they may not be able to stop. In some ways the main point of the film.
As for Reloaded not matching up to The Matrix. Fair enough, but you do know that's at least partly cos it's the middle of the story, right ? Of stories I've seen recently, only Babylon 5 is stronger in the middle than either end.
cheers,
Shane
To understand profoundly through intuition or empathy. [Coined by Robert A. Heinlein in his Stranger in a Strange Land.]
google tr.v. Slang googled, googling, googles
To have or gain a surface understanding of something. Passing familiarity. Enough to fake deeper knowledge. As from skimming a Table of Contents, or briefly reading the first few results of a google search. [Coined by me, today.]
cheers,
Shane
Does it help if you break up the numbers differently ? Working help desk I found most Americans* rigidly pre-disposed to hear phone numbers as 3 digits then 4 digits (123 4567). If I gave any other pattern** (eg. 12 34 567) many couldn't even catch the digits (unless they wrote it down and "translated" it). Giving your number as "one-eight-oh oh---" etc, might not trigger their 'phone-number' responses.
cheers,
Shane
*just so my 'merkin friends don't feel picked on: Here in Oz nobody knows whether "area code" refers to phones or mail. Some are so bad that asking for "area code and phone number" gets you their phone number and postcode. Happily you can usually just assume these people are from (07) Queensland ;)
**Why use another pattern ? frex to break up misleading pairs/triples.
"Agriculture allowed humans to spend less time..." In "Guns, Germs and Steel"* Jared Diamond argues that agriculture does not save any time over hunting/gathering. (Work hours get longer, and nutrition gets worse). What it does allow is more people to live in a smaller area, and for some people to control others access to food. *workplace proxy prevents me finding the ob. amazon.com link
all your All Wrong belong to us!