Richard Giles Blog

It still blows me away the amount of money that jish.nu raised for the Star Wars Kid. Now it is disappointing to see that the kid and his family are suing those responsible for uploading the video to the net. What exactly do they think they are going to achieve from that?

It sounds like some people are asking for a refund on their gift. Not surprising, I’d expect to see most of it vaporise.

I’m probably years late, all of geekdom has probably known about PVP for years. Damn it’s funny, almost rivals Dilbert. Anyway, why the hell didn’t I think of the Mootrix.

The third Worldwide Wardrive has been announced from June 28 to July 5.

If your interested in organising a local drive then you can email them your details. Currently there aren’t any in Australia. Who’ll be the first.

With Wireless, an English City Reaches Across Digital Divide.

More evidence that innovating with Wi-Fi can bring a communications infrastructure at low cost. It won’t be long before a complete city is a “hot zone”, as they call it. Completely covered by a low cost network allowing all demographics to use it.

Opening the spectrum will increase the deployment of such infrastructure.

By the way, I have IAD, which is much better than IAD mixed with ADD.

After the second viewing of Matrix Reloaded, I have two new questions. Since most people agree that the “real world” is potentially another Matrix, is Neo in a coma, or has he exited to a new world? If a hidden message is the Matrix is hell, hence Persephone, then could the “real world” be earth and perhaps Neo is now in heaven?

No new answers, just more questions.

One thing for certain, Google is getting a good workout with Matrix Reloaded searches.

I’m off to see the Matrix Reloaded again tomorrow night. I’ll see if I can make some more sense of the movie, and hopefully spy a few hidden messages, like George Bush on the Architects TVs. I’ve been a little obsessed with the movie in the last week. Seeking out as many articles and reviews as I could. It has made some interesting reading. I’d add Abstract Dynamics, The Corporate Mofo Guide and Philosophers Draw on the Film ‘Matrix’ interesting insights to my Review of The Matrix Reloaded.

Are the Wachowskis as in tune with modern propaganda and philosophy as William Blaze suggests, or is it something more akin to reading too much into a simple message. If the brothers are as well read and intelligent as the press will have us think, then it is possible that such a cultural message is their main intent.

Hell, I’ll see it just to experience the freeway chase again.

Footnote - If anyone has any hidden treats they noticed in the movie, please let me know.

Someone needs to offer a service for ripping a CD collection. I’m in the process of doing this with my collection. Two days worth of music just isn’t enough on my iPod.

If you missed it at the end of Reloaded, like I did, then here is the trailer for Revolutions.

Thanks to Lockergnome for the link.

Major Spoiler Warning.

Lets ignore the Spring Break music video scene, and the fact that the Burley Brawl was not as realistic as Gaeta advertised in Wired. The Matrix Reloaded is an object oriented program developed for geeks, one that will keep them speculating on which routines meant what for another six months until the final in the trilogy.

Most of the special effects are fantastic, especially the freeway chase, but it only makes it another science fiction movie, not a legend. What makes it special is the detail and the intricate story. Details such as the use of a real life computer program, Nmap, by Trinity to hack the power grid. The story makes reference to an encyclopedia of myths and human psychology. This is the real reason the movie will be reloaded by fans.

Many of the names in the movies have the potential for hidden meaning. Do the names actually link to the story though? Persephone is the wife of Hades, Goddess of the Underworld. Does this suggest that the world is split as the Greek myth tells, the Matrix being the Underworld. Merovingian is a dynasty of Frankish leaders, does this mean that he is the leader of the Matrix, the crown being handed down over the six versions. Or are all these rabbit holes, placed there by the brothers to enthrall a legion of addicts who spend years analyzing the trilogy. It’s already causing huge speculation, even The New Yorker is drawing links to The Cathars, warring Christians that believed the world was not real.

To understand the world in greater depth it is useful to see the Animatrix short animated films. Four are free on the Internet, the total nine available on DVD in June. If you were wondering why Neo suddenly receives a message from the Oracle in the “real world”, it’s explained in Final Flight of The Osiris screened before Steven Kings Dreamcatcher in March. The Osiris is destroyed, but not before getting the message from the Oracle to Neo.

The real questions are in fact, why can Neo EMP the Machines in the “real world”? Is it real as they believe, or is it a Matrix outside the Matrix? Why can he see the future in the Matrix, is he just another subroutine? Perhaps he, or the second Matrix, are just security measures to keep the humans under control. How does Agent Smith infect Bane and transition to the “real world”? Is the architect the Freud routine, designed to analyse how the inhabitants of the Matrix react to the programs stimuli? Is the Matrix just a toy for some higher being, used to watch reaction to different situations. There are too many possible endings, only one that the Wachowskis could possibly produce.

Overall the movie was fantastic. A great fun romp, with a bit more insight into the world outside the Matrix. The special effects are fantastic and the action is unsurpassed, except perhaps by the original. In my opinion it will never reach the brilliance of the original, but will be memorable for coming close and far more philosophical.

In a tip of the hat to the brothers filming style, the movies main theme focuses on fate, are they in control or is their future predetermined. The final movie is already complete. No matter how much we speculate, the end is already in celluloid. Over the weekend it was mentioned on In-Entertainment on Channel 10 that Reloaded was the years most anticipated sequel. I beg to differ, Revolutions is.