I was reading some messages in a newsgroup, and I've seen these before but it hadn't registered. Anyway, one of the posters did this little comment as HTML-style code (i.e. <sarcasm> good idea </sarcasm>). When I was growing up, well, a few years ago, it was C or C++ code. I think I've seen TCL and Perl also used. It is just a reflection of what the current geek language is for the younsters.

I finally decided that I was going to watch "The Messenger", so I left work early and went to a nearby movie theatre to watch it. Now, there's a relatively new movie theatre close to where I live, and the seats are high-backed with good support. Come to think of it, the other theatre close by was just renovated so the seats are also nice and comfy. The problem with seats in this theatre was the lack of back support. I like sitting way up in the 3rd or 4th row, which means you have to lean back to watch the screen. Hard to do if the seat doesn't have good back support. Oh well.

"The Messenger" is a good movie. Very much like the NBC mini- series that was aired a few months ago, except about an hour shorter. There are a lot of scenes in common between the two, which leads me to believe that those incidents are probably true. Both end kind of badly because Joan of Arc gets burned in the end. Leelee Sobieski's Joan was a determined woman who had Goddess speak to her. Milla Jovovich's Joan was a troubled young girl who was just plain crazy. Nothing against either actress, just the interpretation of the character for each movie. Milla did a good job acting quite hysterically insane. Don't know if the French will like this characterization of one of their heroes. Both movies are different, and I enjoyed watching them both.

I've been very slightly paying attention to the production details of three movies currently being filmed. "The Lord of the Rings" which I'll have to wait to see before making any sort of judgements. It's hard to translate a novel into a movie since it either doesn't cover the whole novel or it's really long (and doesn't cover the whole novel). "X-Men" is another live-action movie. Superhero movies are tough to do as live- action, but the state of special effects is quite good. The last movie is "Dungeons and Dragons" which once again depends on special effects, otherwise it'll look cheesy.

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is 41? I remember watching "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" at UC Berkeley, that was the first movie I saw her in. She was a young Maid Marian, Kevin Costner was the, not as old as he is now Robin, Morgan Freeman playing some random character thrown in for the movie. Back then the big knock on the movie was the lack of any sort of realistic period accents. But students enjoy cheap movies.

The UC Berkeley movie club (or whatever it was called) showed several movies each year, usually before they were generally released. It's always a full, rather hot auditorium. Lots of yelling and talking and jokes throughout the movie. Especially memorable were the marathon nights -- Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Right about the start of the third movie my friends and I are thinking "this has been going on a long time, *and* it's hot and stuffy". But it was great to go out with my roommates and watch the movies.