Seen: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

[IMDB]
Having escaped from the dismal Dursleys once more, Harry discovers that Sirius Black, the wizard who betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort, has escaped from the wizards' prison at Azkaban. When the pupils arrive at Hogwarts for the new term, they find the wraith-like Dementors, guardians of Azkaban Fortress, waiting for them...

The third HP film, and the first where I've read the book. This time out, we've got a new director, who certainly makes his presence felt. The most visible difference is that the whole film is shot in much more washed-out colours, rather than the vibrant, rich pallette of the earlier films, adding to the chilling presence of the dementors.

Personally, the best thing about the change of directors was Cuarón's willingness to credit the audience with some degree of intellect - I found Chris Columbus' tendency to ram his visual exposition home with the subtlety of a charging bull elephant to be somewhat annoying.

The kids are much less wholesome-gosh-wow, too, but it's tricky to tell how much of that is due to the change in director and how much is the actors growing up. A bit of both, I reckon.

While the long running time (for a "kids" movie) is still there, I noticed less gratuitous padding than the earlier films - things seem more tightly focused on the plot, with fewer diversions. A few details get snipped from the plot as presented in the book, as is always necessary when adapting from print, (unless you start with a short story or want a 6-hour film) but things hold up well.

Best Potter Movie yet.

Seen: Much Ado About Nothing

[Globe Website (here's hoping they don't bitrot the link at the end of the show's run)]

After a period of war, Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon, has successfully concluded a peace with his bastard brother, Don John. Arriving at the house of Leonato in Messina, Don Pedro and his retinue turn their thoughts from war to love, and a happy match is foreseen between Claudio, one of Don Pedro's men, and Hero, Leonato's daughter. But Don John has other ideas...

The play

My first time for this particular comedy, and I don't think I'll bother commenting on the script, since I gather that most people think this Shakespeare guy's pretty good :)

I enjoyed it. The all-female company tore into it with enthusiasm, making maximum use of the almost-in-the-round structure of the globe to engage with the audience. Josie Lawrence, in particular, milked the "horn" jokes for all they were worth. It was funny, which is obviously the point, so they were doing that bit right.

The Theatre

This is the first time I've ever seen Shakespeare in a proper theatre - the previous productions I've seen have been in outdoor amphitheatres or improvised stages in castles. calatrice and I had plum seats - front row of the bottom tier, right in front of the stage. So we were sorted. Cal's parents, on the middle tier and somewhat to one side, reckoned their view was pretty damn good too.

We thought we were well prepared, having carefully planned beforehand: "the globe has no roof, must take waterproofs just in case"

Unfortunately, we completely overlooked the possibility of 30-centigrade heat and blazing sunshine. Jackets came off to avoid heatstroke, and I ended up luminous pink (and peeling a few days later). I managed not to end up completely barbequed, but still, oops. I'm sure you can figure out the moral here.

In terms of getting the maximum number of people as close to the stage as possible, the Globe succeeds admirably. The biggest drawback, however, was the damn aircraft. The Globe is right in the middle of London, conveniently under the outer end of the eastern flight path into Heathrow (which is ever so slightly one of the busiest airports in the world). There were moments when the cast were having difficulty making themselves heard.

Still, a grand day out for all concerned.

The straw that broke the camel's back

In the aftermath of Download.ject (AKA scob) the web is suddenly alive with stories slating IE's (lack of) security. Some of them even recommend alternative browsers as a solution.

The trigger seems to have been one of the recommended solutions to a security warning from the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team:

Use a different web browser

There are a number of significant vulnerabilities in technologies relating to the IE domain/zone security model, the DHTML object model, MIME type determination, and ActiveX. It is possible to reduce exposure to these vulnerabilities by using a different web browser, especially when browsing untrusted sites.

And it's finally starting to happen. Virtually all the stats show IE losing ground and Mozilla-based browsers gaining it. Some show Opera picking up users from IE too. It's still only a very small swing, and way too early to start proclaiming IE's demise, but at the bare minimum, this is a wake-up call for Microsoft in the browser market.

Microsoft's PR response is somewhat predictable, and very modern-corporate-America in attitude:

Microsoft certainly respects the work CERT does to help protect the Internet and users. Regarding the consideration that users switch browsers, it is unfortunate that the published articles have misrepresented CERT's suggestions, and we are working with CERT to clarify their advice

[source: Wired News]

Translation: shoot the messenger.

[I am not gloating. Not until IE loses enough market share to hurt.]

Normally I hate gameshows...

...but for this, I'll make an exception.

[via The Sideshow]