Matrix muddle

I promised Tamas I’d pass along my reactions to Matrix Reloaded. I’m saddened by the task now, because I know that Tamas, like me, brings high hopes to the movie. Unfortunately, the second movie is… terrible. The plot is as knotted, pasty and unmemorable as an overcooked plate of spaghetti. The 10-minute-long chases and kungfu sequences are, despite the painfully visible arc of rising hysteria and speed, predictable and boring. They prove that, although $300 million can be spent computer-generating “real” looking visuals, without a good plot and care-worthy characters, you’ve touch the viewer less than would a ride on Disneyland’s Peter Pan ride. It don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t got spirit. The music: bad. Zion: bad. Keano’s befuddlement fit the first movie — he was waking up. Now he’s fully awake, but still sleepwalking as an actor. The only characters who act human are Agent Smith and the French dude… who both are rogue programs. If you feel like sending a message to Hollywood, skip the sequal, rent the first Matrix and enjoy the real thing. Go see it with low expectations, and perhaps you’ll be pleasantly surprised and at least you’ll be able to join disessections of the movie. (That is the perverse thing about power laws, right? Even the bad hub wins if it is big enough.)

One piece of more amusing news today. The first two words in this article in the NYTimes are Rick Bruner, who I’ve known since Budapest. Loquacious and irreverent, Rick started blogging a year ago and was like a kid in the candy store. Rick’s faux pas is old news to bloggers, but now the Times has identified the cultural importance of the experience and spelled it out for print readers.

Wait. Gee, why do I find myself caring that Rick was words one and two in a NYTimes article? I guess this glee is a knee jerk reaction to the days when Newspapers Mattered. If the Times wants to delve into the cultural imporance of blogs, wouldn’t this be a good place to start: bloggers like Glenn Reynolds and Andrew Sullivan each get roughly 1% of the traffic of NYTimes.com, which publishes the collective work of 1000 print and online editorial staffers. Protoblogger Matt Drudge gets 33% of NYTimes.com traffic. When will these revolutionary ratios be examined in the paper?