Saturday, December 18, 2010

The Fate of the Mirror's Shadow

I recently wrote and finished a short story. It's called the Fate of the Mirror's Shadow and is hosted on Scribd.com

Check it out here!

Finally found gotten around to surfing with my Z!

Anyone who's handled the Zaurus SL-5x00 line of PDAs know how utterly useless the Opera browser is as viewing websites is a slow and painful process. Not to mention that trying to surf the web is an exercise of frustration from Out of Memory woes.

What I have stumbled upon and maybe I'm simply slow on using this PDA device is that the only way to make sure you get a good surfing experience is to keep your surfing experience to websites with mobile versions. They work wonders and don't kill your PDA memory resources with one or two clicks.

You should also use Google Mobile or the tool it relies on as it automatically converts the sites to display easier on mobile devices. It is also less resource intensive so this at least gives you some good surfing period without the Zaurus screaming for more memory. Hope this little tidbit helps.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Grand Prix (1966)

A day ago I was privileged enough to catch viewing of an old film entitled Grand Prix, which is quite possibly the first and only movie to have use Formula One as the backdrop and have complete approval and compliance with the Formula One community. This film is directed by John Frankenheimer and is purportedly his first coloured movie as well as the first to show onboard shots of real Formula One cars. Being a fan (although lapsed) of Formula One, this movie has certainly piqued my interest. This movie captures an age of Formula One that people will never see again. The cars, the circuits, the dangers involved.

John Frankenheimer flexes his prowess to capture racing footage and the footage he does show gives F1 fans plenty to like in this movie. In fact, there is a lot of good things in this movie, and some story content that are certainly worth talking about in the world of grand prix racing. However, there's also a lot not to like in this movie. There are a lot of unnecessary subplots and unnecessary characters, not to mention a total mismanagement of time and story telling.

The movie opens with a breathtaking recreation of the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix and this has been really spectacular as you see the 1966 configuration of the grand prix and all the really nice racing footage that Frankenheimer captured. Interesting note here for F1 buffs is that the Rascasse is missing and in its place is the Gasometer hairpin. It is unfortunate however that the lead character of the movie is an American Grand Prix driver, Pete Aron. In the course of the race he experienced a faulty gearbox which meant eventually falling back and being on the verge of getting lapped by his much quicker teammate and race leader, Scott Stoddard. You immediately despise the American for blocking Scott for an entire lap despite blue flags being waved. Going into the swimmingpool complex, Pete attempts to give way to the English man only to brake test and wipe out both cars out of the race and send Scott to the hospital in pieces. This despicable action makes me totally be apathetic to his plight, especially after being so defiant and defensive when Jeff Jordan, team boss of the BRM fires him for his stunt.

The races that Frankenheimer does show properly are exquisitely done. For the uninitiated, this shows some of the inner workings of a grand prix weekend. John Frankenheimer had captured onboard driving footages of F1 cars being driven by grand prix drivers such as Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees, Graham Hill, Joechen Rindt, and Jack Brabham. The racing shots that their actors do drive in are F3 cars modified to look like F1 cars. There are also some race footages used and it does properly recreate the racing. There is a lot of F1 history in this movie and a lot of nods to special events and F1 fans will surely won't want to miss them.

The movie is also at its best when it tackles driver issues like team preferential treatment, driver safety issues, lavish lifestyle etc. I especially love the scene with Pete Aron and Comandatore Manetta, head of the Ferrari F1 effort while having access to the real Ferrari building. My feeling is that Ferrari as a team there seemed to reflect the mindset Ferrari has now in modern times which makes it seem like that Ferrari has always operated in that fashion.

The movie has its own problems and frankly the movie is at its worst when they crop up. For one, the story is just too thick even at approximate running time of three hours. There are story arcs that are complete waste of time and others that simply take too much time to accomplish. Several of the more compelling plot threads take a backseat and seemingly have been forgotten for a good portion of the entire movie. John clearly seems to have trouble with his time management. He also seems to have a great deal of trouble keeping the audience with him as he takes them for ride in the races as well as into the offtrack drama. At times, there is an F1 commentator that gives you context to the action happening on screen, but there are also a lot of time when John attempts to let the driving do the talking. Don't get me wrong, listening to the engines roar and seeing Jackie Stewart fly on the limit is nice to watch, but sometimes you aren't even sure if it's him running. There are strange scene cuts and awkward scenes that further confuse whether they are still in the same day or have time lapsed. One major problem with the film is the fact that an entire F1 season is very difficult to capture even at three hours. A lot of the races were compressed and only two races were allowed to breathe in this movie, Monaco and the finale at Monza. The Nuerburgring is woefully represented by a single dialog and Watkins Glen is only shown as a trophy in a scene. Speaking of the lack of racing, this also brings up my final gripe of this movie. There just isn't enough of the racing story. Ultimately, the movie is about 4 grand prix drivers and deals with their struggles and passions throughout. While I'm fine when the story goes off track, I find the romantic story arcs completely predictable and boring.

Grand Prix is a very flawed movie and it caters to a specific audience. If you can forgive its problems there is a lot to like here. But you need to dig deep to find them and I'm not sure a lot of people are willing to do that now. F1 fans will have plenty to sink their teeth in, but others may find the movie plodding and the story ultimately standard fare.