Interesting Links for 13-07-2013

• Fandomized Algorithms and Fandom Number Generation
  (tags: funny fandom fanfic viafanf )
• Why mobile web apps are slow
  (tags: computers javascript web )
• Some useful adages
  (tags: advice )
• Why do we enjoy listening to sad music?
  (tags: music emotion )
• First full genome sequencing for autism: Promise for future diagnosis, prevention and treatment
  (tags: genetics autism )
• How Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages
  (tags: spying encryption usa microsoft )
• I understood gender discrimination once I added “Mr.” to my resume and landed a job
  (tags: jobs discrimination gender )
• Russian Scientists Build Monument To Honor Lab Rats
  (tags: rats science )
• Merging photos of family members makes for interesting comparisons
  (tags: family photoshop )
• The psychological tricks that "free" games use to take your money.
  (tags: f2p games free )
• A Steam sale discussion post. I'm tracking it, so leave recommendations!
  (tags: games steam )
• 12 Things No One Told Me About Sex After Rape
  (tags: sex viaTeresaFloyd rape )
• Livetweeting Game of Thrones (the whole first book, not the TV series)
  (tags: twitter books gameofthrones )
• Union leader Bob Crow seeks to form new 'working class party' to replace Labour (This would make me so happy)
  (tags: politics uk unions labour )
• There Is No Benefit In Reducing Salt Intake And It May Even Be Dangerous
  (tags: health salt )

So, Pacific Rim

I saw it.

It was fun.

But it felt like a mess.

I suspect that if I watched a lot more of the movies/series that it's inspired by I might enjoy it more for the references. But it constantly felt like it jammed in too much background detail to ever really get to grips with the main characters. If we'd had a whole season to get to know the Russian pilots, the Chinese pilots, and various background characters who frequently felt like they had their own story to tell, their own background, that they brought somethin to the movie.

It felt like they'd written enough material to make their whole season (or trilogy) and then given us the highlight reel. In fact, what I'm reminded of is something like the Hitchhiker's Guide movie, where rampant fanboys tried to make a movie by taking all of their favourite bits and stringing them together.

I'm selling it short there though - it was _much_ better than the Hitchiker's Guide movie. It looked amazing, it had decent relationships sketched in between the characters, it had a couple of laugh-out-loud moments, and it had Giant Fucking Robots punching Giant Fucking Monsters.

If you're the kind of person who loves a movie because it has Thing A in it, and Thing B and Thing C, and you love all of those things, then you will love this. There's an example here of someone who did, very much. If you like your movies to be a bit more coherent than that, then you may feel a bit let down.

6.5/10