This film was in Britain about 4/5 months ago. I went to see it, having seen Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels about a month before.
With Lock, Stock still relatively fresh in my mind ("Chill, Winstaaan"), I felt that the plots were the same - something gets stolen, everyone wants the same thing, it ends up in the hands of the characters that you want it to in the end, and it all works out. Forgive the mathematical analogy, but it's like the plots of both oscillate around the same, straight line.
The intelligence, and humour of the film, though, lies in those oscillations. This isn't a film, it's a movie. It's there to be enjoyed, not endlessly analyzed. In that way, this is yet another successful Guy Richie movie.
Quite a few of the characters in Snatch are played by well-known actors in Britain. Mike Reid plays basically the same character as he does in Eastenders, a soap opera. Vinnie Jones, ex-professional soccer player-turned actor (Lock, Stock and Gone in 60 Seconds) plays the same character as he did in Lock, Stock and on the soccer pitch.
Whilst Snatch is full of stereotyping, it is still enjoyable, and hilarious. Brad Pitt puts in an excellent performance as the Irish gypsy bareknuckle fighter who won't take a fall.
The end result is full of slick, fast editing and good cameos. The results of Richie's directing are far better than Richard Curtis' weak romantic comedies (Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill), and leaves you with a warm feeling inside - not an empty one, as Trainspotting, one of Britain's best exports, did.
Normally, most reviewers refuse to review bad books. I have a feeling that the reviewer here must have a point - else why bother? Does he say anything good about the "New Geography"? Joel Kotkin, I mean. Does he say anything about how it expands other horizons? If he says industry dying out is a bad thing, how's about this: 300 years ago, Britain's main industry was farming. Then, all of a sudden, the Industrial Revolution comes along, and people move to the cities for work in the factories. Spot any similarities? If it is the case, as Kotkin puts it, that people are moving out of the cities to places they like, to telework; does this remind you of anything? Generally, the main industry of every developed country is changing to services. There's nothing new. It's a bit like Global Warming - it has happened before, it's happening again, and it will happen in the future.
This is really quite scary. It's not because I do anything illegal, but Carnivore makes interception of all my net traffic possible. Just think of what they can use this for! If there is ever a return to McCarthyism, and I read something about, say, Karl Marx, I could immediately be marked as a "Red" - draw any parallels with any other "subversive" elements. While I feel that "Big Brother" is useful for the prevention and detection of internet-related crime, such as "immoral" BO2000 use etc, the flip-side is that we lose a part of our freedom.
How legal is this? Is it, for example, legal here in Britain? Can any intelligence agency in the world just switch it on and type in my name and monitor my activities? This seems to enable monitoring from a distance - therefore, though I am in Britain, could the FBI snoop on me and get away with it because they're on US soil?
OK, the article stated that the prototype is 8.1 metres long. If I remember the last info I got on WIG, wouldn't a large WIG train actually have to have wings at least as wide as the train is long? I remember that the WIG effect is caused by turbulance from the high air pressure under the aerofoil being reflected by the ground. The only problem being that the wings have to be very wide. Look at the pterosaurs. They utilised the WIG effect as well as thermals to soar and glide. Their wingspan, however, was massive.
I personally don't think that this idea will ever take off (forgive the pun). Maglev is a much better understood effect and is easily controlled - the WIG craft would have to take off. Surely there is a hell of a lot of chance that serious faults will occur during lift off? It will probably need a lot of work before being produced and used by civilians, and even then I don't believe that it will be as good as maglev. Maglev will be much improved once superconductors reach the boiling point of nitrogen.
There, my (probably not-so-well-informed) two cents.
I totally agree with the other respondants (is that a word, or did I just make it up?), it's not about escaping technology. It is about human nature. It's about how, when left away from "modern" civilisation, humans revert to their basic instincts - survival of the fittest and all that rot. They become savages, because the kids haven't had enough time to "adjust" to modern attitudes towards behaviour. They behave as if it is a game, but as they do, they come to make it more serious. In that way, the book is not trash, but a perfectly good "What if?..." situation. The writing is great, and it is definitely a classic. At the risk of judging a book by its cover, I'd say you don't really enjoy reading fiction, or that you hated the idea that you were forced to read a book you wouldn't necessarily have read any way. Well, that was my two cents...
With all the techie messages out there, and calls of "We want more personal info," I think that people have neglected how well John seems to have built his own life. He's an inspiration - I know, slightly OTT - to myself, and I'm sure others. "I spent a year in a juvenile home for a first offence after an evaluation by a psychologist went very badly."
No offence to John, but he didn't start out well in life. Going to a juvenile home was probably a big blow for him. He was engaged in anarchistic activities when he was young (hacking, bombs, thermite etc). But he's bounced back from that, and made a success of his life. That is why he is a much better 'geek' to look up to than, say, Bill Gates. Mr. Gates, as far as I know, never did anything anarchistic. He's Mister Goody Two-shoes. Yet here is someone who has been bad and still made up for it.
What I can honestly say is that I look up to John more now than I did, thanks to this insight into his history. It shows that anyone can succeed in life, even if they have made mistakes when they were young. I certainly hope to make something decent of my life when I go into the Real World of employment, probably 4 years away.
its a goddamn bowling game who gives a shit about it after all its bowling
It's money. Some people like bowling games, and so want them and pay for them. If this company is losing money for a definite reason, and they can solve it legally, they are within their rights to sue.
Ah. Yes, then, I did hear about that. I think that Mr. Blassor (initiator of the thread) is a bit too critical of the FBI. I mean, aside from conspiracy theories galore, they seem to be doing a reasonable job. Without xealots, you don't get results. Without results: no FBI, no internal law enforcement agency. Sirch
If your brother is an alledged hacker, of course they take the whole lot away. They don't want him doing any more hacking, so they remove his hardware. You don't think the average FBI agent knows what everything is. A printer cable can look like a serial cable - which attaches to a modem and thus enables communication. It could also be that they didn't want anyone from printing anything from his location. This is all assuming, of course, that they took the computer as well as the printer cable. I mean, if they just walked in, said "Right Mr. Blosser, you're under arrest, these are your Miranda rights {or whatever}" and then took his printer cable, nothing else, then I can see why they would be deperate for computer peeps. Unless there's something sinister about printer cables that we don't know about but the Feds do... Sirch Oh yeah, being in Britain, some things don't get as far as me. Please can someone explain the gas canisters thing. Thanks
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With Lock, Stock still relatively fresh in my mind ("Chill, Winstaaan"), I felt that the plots were the same - something gets stolen, everyone wants the same thing, it ends up in the hands of the characters that you want it to in the end, and it all works out. Forgive the mathematical analogy, but it's like the plots of both oscillate around the same, straight line.
The intelligence, and humour of the film, though, lies in those oscillations. This isn't a film, it's a movie. It's there to be enjoyed, not endlessly analyzed. In that way, this is yet another successful Guy Richie movie.
Quite a few of the characters in Snatch are played by well-known actors in Britain. Mike Reid plays basically the same character as he does in Eastenders, a soap opera. Vinnie Jones, ex-professional soccer player-turned actor (Lock, Stock and Gone in 60 Seconds) plays the same character as he did in Lock, Stock and on the soccer pitch.
Whilst Snatch is full of stereotyping, it is still enjoyable, and hilarious. Brad Pitt puts in an excellent performance as the Irish gypsy bareknuckle fighter who won't take a fall.
The end result is full of slick, fast editing and good cameos. The results of Richie's directing are far better than Richard Curtis' weak romantic comedies (Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill), and leaves you with a warm feeling inside - not an empty one, as Trainspotting, one of Britain's best exports, did.
8.5/10 - Samey, but still fun.
--
Normally, most reviewers refuse to review bad books. I have a feeling that the reviewer here must have a point - else why bother?
Does he say anything good about the "New Geography"? Joel Kotkin, I mean. Does he say anything about how it expands other horizons?
If he says industry dying out is a bad thing, how's about this: 300 years ago, Britain's main industry was farming. Then, all of a sudden, the Industrial Revolution comes along, and people move to the cities for work in the factories. Spot any similarities? If it is the case, as Kotkin puts it, that people are moving out of the cities to places they like, to telework; does this remind you of anything? Generally, the main industry of every developed country is changing to services. There's nothing new. It's a bit like Global Warming - it has happened before, it's happening again, and it will happen in the future.
Just my two cents' worth.
How legal is this? Is it, for example, legal here in Britain? Can any intelligence agency in the world just switch it on and type in my name and monitor my activities? This seems to enable monitoring from a distance - therefore, though I am in Britain, could the FBI snoop on me and get away with it because they're on US soil?
OK, the article stated that the prototype is 8.1 metres long. If I remember the last info I got on WIG, wouldn't a large WIG train actually have to have wings at least as wide as the train is long? I remember that the WIG effect is caused by turbulance from the high air pressure under the aerofoil being reflected by the ground. The only problem being that the wings have to be very wide. Look at the pterosaurs. They utilised the WIG effect as well as thermals to soar and glide. Their wingspan, however, was massive.
I personally don't think that this idea will ever take off (forgive the pun). Maglev is a much better understood effect and is easily controlled - the WIG craft would have to take off. Surely there is a hell of a lot of chance that serious faults will occur during lift off? It will probably need a lot of work before being produced and used by civilians, and even then I don't believe that it will be as good as maglev. Maglev will be much improved once superconductors reach the boiling point of nitrogen.
There, my (probably not-so-well-informed) two cents.
I totally agree with the other respondants (is that a word, or did I just make it up?), it's not about escaping technology. It is about human nature. It's about how, when left away from "modern" civilisation, humans revert to their basic instincts - survival of the fittest and all that rot. They become savages, because the kids haven't had enough time to "adjust" to modern attitudes towards behaviour. They behave as if it is a game, but as they do, they come to make it more serious. In that way, the book is not trash, but a perfectly good "What if?..." situation. The writing is great, and it is definitely a classic.
At the risk of judging a book by its cover, I'd say you don't really enjoy reading fiction, or that you hated the idea that you were forced to read a book you wouldn't necessarily have read any way.
Well, that was my two cents...
With all the techie messages out there, and calls of "We want more personal info," I think that people have neglected how well John seems to have built his own life. He's an inspiration - I know, slightly OTT - to myself, and I'm sure others.
"I spent a year in a juvenile home for a first offence after an evaluation by a psychologist went very badly."
No offence to John, but he didn't start out well in life. Going to a juvenile home was probably a big blow for him. He was engaged in anarchistic activities when he was young (hacking, bombs, thermite etc). But he's bounced back from that, and made a success of his life. That is why he is a much better 'geek' to look up to than, say, Bill Gates. Mr. Gates, as far as I know, never did anything anarchistic. He's Mister Goody Two-shoes. Yet here is someone who has been bad and still made up for it.
What I can honestly say is that I look up to John more now than I did, thanks to this insight into his history. It shows that anyone can succeed in life, even if they have made mistakes when they were young. I certainly hope to make something decent of my life when I go into the Real World of employment, probably 4 years away.
its a goddamn bowling game who gives a shit about it after all its bowling
It's money. Some people like bowling games, and so want them and pay for them. If this company is losing money for a definite reason, and they can solve it legally, they are within their rights to sue.
Ah. Yes, then, I did hear about that. I think that Mr. Blassor (initiator of the thread) is a bit too critical of the FBI. I mean, aside from conspiracy theories galore, they seem to be doing a reasonable job. Without xealots, you don't get results. Without results: no FBI, no internal law enforcement agency.
Sirch
If your brother is an alledged hacker, of course they take the whole lot away. They don't want him doing any more hacking, so they remove his hardware. You don't think the average FBI agent knows what everything is. A printer cable can look like a serial cable - which attaches to a modem and thus enables communication. It could also be that they didn't want anyone from printing anything from his location. This is all assuming, of course, that they took the computer as well as the printer cable. I mean, if they just walked in, said "Right Mr. Blosser, you're under arrest, these are your Miranda rights {or whatever}" and then took his printer cable, nothing else, then I can see why they would be deperate for computer peeps. Unless there's something sinister about printer cables that we don't know about but the Feds do... Sirch Oh yeah, being in Britain, some things don't get as far as me. Please can someone explain the gas canisters thing. Thanks