Hey, guys. I’m back!
In case you missed the blog post on Monday, there was no comic due to my experiencing another hard drive crash. The same thing happened to me a year ago and I lost a TON of important information. There was less of an impact this time around because I’ve been backing up all of my art files, music, movies, photos and what not to a pair of Western Digital external passport drives. So once I went out and bought a new intern drive, I was up and running again fairly quickly.
One thing I’ve learned, though, is that I still don’t have enough redundancy on these files. I never used to have hard drive problems like this. In the past, I had machines that slowed down to the point of not functioning from years of disk rewrites and things picked up along the way surfing the internet. But I’ve never had machines outright fail like I have these last couple of years. So now I’m looking at online storage houses like Mozy and CrashPlan to help insure my data further.
I guess in the past I didn’t have as much important data as I do now and I’m finally to the point where I’m not going to take chances with it any more. A monthly investment in off-site data backup has finally penetrated my miserly bubble that kept me from springing for the service in the first place.
Anyway, I’m back and at full strength, so let’s talk about the new comic!
I was very excited to see Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D over the weekend. But monitoring Twitter (as I do) and reading all the posts from people wetting their pants about Zombieland, I started to experience a little buyers remorse. There’s nothing worse than feeling like you missed out on a cool, new movie. Especially after the extended dry spell we’ve been having at the multiplex lately.
Here’s something messed up that happened: You know how the advertisements for Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are all “Two movies for the price of one?” Yeah, not for us.
Looking at the start times for our local theater, we saw that they had a 7:00 and 8:55 showing. Assuming that they were playing the movies in two theaters, we figured that we’d go to the 8:55 showing (to reduce the chances of encountering a bunch of screaming kids at the theater). When we went to buy tickets, I said “Two for Toy Story, please” and the teenager behind the counter mumbled something about Toy Story 2.
Maybe it was my fault for not listening more closely, but I thought she was trying to tell me that I wasn’t buying a ticket for just Toy Story, but Toy Story 2 as well.
“Yeah, yeah. The whole package,” I said.
We went to the ticket taker who instructed us to wait as they cleaned the theater. “Great! A fresh theater!” I thought.
Imagine my surprise when they finally let us in and half the seats were already filled. Wait, what? How did these people get in?
We grabbed some seats and tried to make sense of the situation. I talked to some people sitting behind us. “Were you guys in here for Toy Story 1?” I asked. “Yeah,” they said. “This is the intermission part. We’re waiting for Toy Story 2 to start.”
Son of a bee! They sold us a full-price ticket for one movie!
I wanted to stir up trouble, but Cami told me not to. It worked out anyway because as great as Toy Story is, we were really more interested in seeing Toy Story 2. When it was all said and done, I don’t know if we would have lasted through two movies anyway.
I was a little peeved that I missed the intermission stuff. I heard there was some trivia and original Pixar content buffered between the two movies. But I did get to see the trailer for Toy Story 3 – which they won’t release online until after Toy Story and Toy Story 2 have finished their two week theatrical run – and the movie looks great.
If you haven’t heard the plot synopsis yet, basically they’ve followed the toys in real-time after the 1995 original. It’s 15 years later and the toy’s owner Andy has grown up. Since he’s outgrown his toys, he’s donated them to a children’s daycare center. The toys are sad to see Andy go, but are excited to be played with again. That is, until they wake up in the daycare and it is total mayhem! The rest of the trailer is the toys running around screaming about how they have to get back to Andy. It doesn’t give away a lot, so it should be interesting to see not only how they toys escape, but if they’ll be accepted back into Andy’s life.
The thought of a real-time sequel to the movie is very interesting to me. I hope they find a way to work in Sid, the sadistic toy-destroying neighbor from the first movie. Hey! Maybe he’s driving the Pizza Planet truck now!
As for Toy Story 2, the movie looks great in 3D, even if it doesn’t have a lot of effects that capitalize on the 3D technology. There aren’t really very many scenes that reach out and grab you. At the same time, there isn’t that gimmick exploitation of people pointing stuff down the lens of the camera or cheesy effects of things whizzing by you.
I will say this: I noticed A LOT more detail in the movie than I have in previous viewings. The opening sequence with Buzz Lightyear on the alien planet was a particular standout to me. I mean, I was noticing pebbles and stuff rolling around on the planet’s surface that I had never really noticed before. It looked great.
I could go on, but this blog entry is long enough. If you want to listen to a couple of thought provoking ideas about the Toy Story 2 universe, I encourage you to watch my uStream of this comic from last night. I was up very late working on it and came up with a few crackpot theories as to what it means to be a sentient toy.
Specifically, I discussed the main conflict in the movie for the toys – being abandoned. What happens when no one plays with them any more? They go into storage or into a landfill. Jessie (played by Joan Cusack) is very adamant in the second movie about NOT going back into storage. Her character is written as a little off-kilter, suggesting that all the time she’s spent in storage so far has made her a little nutty.
What does this mean? Does this mean that the toys are self-aware while they are locked away in darkness, immobile and trapped? Does this do something detrimental to them psychologically or do the toys “reboot” themselves between their animate and inanimate states?
Also, considering that Jessie, Woody, Stinky Pete and Bullseye are toys that a roughly 50 years old, does this mean they are immortal in some way? How long will they continue to live and what are they really?
Perhaps they are reincarnated souls? Imperfect people from a previous life reborn into the bodies of children’s toys to bring happiness to the world? But if that’s the case, how can you explain Buzz Lightyear – whose every single iteration of the character seems to share the same clueless template by assuming they are a real space ranger?
I think the concept of the Toy Story movies is charming and plays directly to the heart of the child in all of us. Who among us didn’t think of their toys as alive when we were young? Who among us didn’t wonder if they sprang to life while we weren’t around?
I’m not saying that the magic of the Toy Story universe needs to be thoroughly explained. All I’m saying is that if you follow the logic of sentient toys, it leads to some pretty disturbing questions.
Okay, okay. One more for your breadbasket. In Toy Story 2, Woody is completely oblivious to the fact that he is a toy based on a pop culture phenomenon that was popular 50 years ago. How does he live his life without the information and yet Jessie, Stinky Pete and Bullseye all see seem to be aware of their relevancy?
It could argued that they only know of their importance because they are surrounded by the artifacts of this phenomenon in the collector’s apartment. But if Buzz Lightyear emerges from his packaging thinking he’s the actual Buzz Lightyear, how did Woody emerge from his packaging and who did he think he was?
I’ll stop there because I’ve infected the internet enough with my particular brand of crazy this morning. But if anything I’ve said interests you, feel free to comment on it in our comment area below. I would be interested to hear your responses and maybe some theories of your own!
Thanks again for your patience as I got my hard drive situation figured out. See you back here again on Friday!
It’s all food for thought.
Yeah! Cami and I saw Toy Story 2 in 3D!
Seriously? With so many great new movies in theater, you spent twelve bucks to see a movie that you own on DVD and have probably seeng a hundred times already?
Don't even get me started on that 3D gimmick!
HEY! It's not a gimmick!
In fact, I'd argue that the film has never looked better!
The 3D added a richness in detail that breathed new life into the characters and environments. It made them even more real.
YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT ELSE IS REAL?
These tears.
They're tears of joy.
That's how good this movie looked.
My theory is that Woody simply forgot he was based on a TV show after all that time. At the garage sale Andy’s mom says that Woody is an old family toy so he’s obviously been around for a long time. Plus, maybe once a toy comes to life it is like being born. How well do you remember the hospital where you were born? Following this theory, in 40 years or so Buzz would also forget he was based on a TV show.
I hope (hope!) that they’ll begin the third movie by explaining exactly this stuff about Woody – old home-movie style about how he was first gifted to a kid in the 50s, that kid grew up, but kept Woody, passing him down to his own son, Andy. Sort of how they did with Jesse in the second movie. This would put Woody into perspective, having gone through this before. And it could solidly establish his expectations about what should be happening to him now that Andy’s growing up, before showing us how naive he is about how kids really treat their toys. No matter how they handle this topic in the movie, though, I’m sure it’s gonna have me crying from the opening scene on through the end credits.
I aint gonna lie, I thought of the same things. Then I remembered that it’s a Disney kids movie, not Star Wars or LOTR. It doesn’t need a full set of lore. 😛
but what about the toy soldiers? they live in the same world (andy’s room) with the others, yet they have the militaristic mentality ingrained into them. are they just filling a void? would some of them rather be poets or chefs?
Interesting problem you had at your theater. Our chain decided not to do things the way Disney asked us to. We don’t have the Pixar filler material between the two movies, and the intermissions are of different lengths (not 5 or 10 minutes, the way Disney designed them.)
You should have gone to one of the managers and asked if you could come back the next day to watch Toy Story 1, or if there was some other remedy. Our chain has told us to be flexible with things.
And with the Toy Story 3 sequel, I don’t remember the toys mentioning that they were going back to Andy, just that they were going to escape the day care. Did I miss something while I was paying attention to the Flamenco Dancing Buzz Lightyear?
-Edly
I guess that should have been “Toy Story 3 Trailer,” not “Sequel.”
-Edly
You should consider looking into a RAID 1 array for your backup needs. When you align 2 hard drives in RAID 1, they automatically mirror their data. If one drive crashes, you put in a new drive, it auto-mirrors, and all that you lost was the cost of the hard drive.
Fiber,
People keep mentioning RAID 1 to me and I have no idea how to set one up. I need someone to walk me through it or point me to a respectable tutorial.
The theater we went to sold it as the Toy Story Double Feature, not each movie separately. The tickets were a little less than 2 single tickets, I think like $12. It turns out the kids weren’t even the most annoying part, it was the teenagers sitting in the front row texting with their bright as the sun cell phones. Maybe this is just me being an old man but if they’re just going to text the whole time why sit in the front row? Why come to the movie at all?
I saw Toy Story 3D earlier today, and I spent some time thinking about the mechanics of toy animation. I’m going to sound really creepy now, but if the toys can move in ways they were clearly not built for – facial expressions, for example – then how else do they differ from the way they were produced? Woody has a relationship with Bo Peep, and she leaves lipstick marks on his face that she shouldn’t… can they actually consummate that relationship? Sorry, I’m not usually so creepy, that’s just the question that I asked while watching.
I was going to say something about toys being animated by their relationship with owners, but then the toys in the store came to life too… Hmm.. Every toy has the instinct to shut down when humans are around, so maybe that’s also a defence mechanism? When the toys were boxed up to be shipped to the new house, they only started moving and talking when Woody opened the box, even though there were no humans around. Perhaps their sentience is dependent on interaction with outside forces, so if they’re packed away in storage they’ll stay in stasis and not experience anything until they are – if ever – woken up.
Just got back from seeing the double feature. My theater had an 11 AM screening and with no classes for the rest of the day, I couldn’t pass it up. It worked out well, since the theater was all but deserted. As expected the movies were as good as I remember them (Jessie’s song still makes me cry), though I admit the 3D didn’t wow me very much. Sometimes it was good (Buzz’s game at the opening of 2 in particular), but most of the time I barely noticed it.
Still, two great movies, and at a mere 9 bucks I couldn’t say no. The biggest downside of being at this empty showing is that the between-movie trivia thing didn’t happen. Oh well, some other double feature.
I try not to think too hard about the specifics of how the Toys are what they are and do what they do. Tends to give me a headache. One thought I’ve got, though, is that when they’ve found their place with a kid who loves them, they develop the personalities they have now. They started out like Buzz did, thinking they were real, but as time goes on that part of their lives slips away. It shows in 2 when Buzz meets the other Buzz, and he can’t believe it. I realize this scene is more embarrassment on his part than actual memory loss, but taking it more literally I think it works.
Or maybe not. Like I said, I tend not to think too hard about it.
To reply to Shawn’s comment about the toy soldiers, I think it comes from the size, complexity, and type of the toy itself. Look at Rex- He is a dinosaur through and through, albiet a whimpy one, but still a dinosaur. Etch isn’t anything but an Etch-a-sketch, so i believe that the toy soldiers are doing what they do. Besides, they could also be rather new like Buzz.
And Tom, I actually thought the same thing when i saw Toy Story 2 about how he doesnt act like buzz did. I think that the buzz phenomenon is actually strictly a buzz lightyear occurrance, kind of in the vein of “small soldiers” since he has a computer chip in him (to control the sounds, but still a computer chip) he might have that ingrained in him. And I believe Woody is really a product of all his “kids” that he’s been with, and seeing as he seems to have alot of experience being a toy, its safe to say he probably has more memories of his time being with Andy and the kids before Andy and doesnt focus on what he was like before he met his first kid.
I saw the Toy Story double feature on Monday and my heart melted all over again for those movies. I will say that the “exclusive content” in between the movies was a little disappointing. It was basically a whole lot of nothing – just the characters running around. Nothing that was really worthwhile. And it was a little tough to stay focused for such a long time. I was really into the first one, but by the time we go halfway through the second movie, I felt my patience starting to fail me. And this is from a guy in law school who has had to sit through reading the most boring Supreme Court cases in the world.
All that said, seeing these movies in the theater once again was a real treat, and I would strongly encourage everyone to see them in the theater while they can.
http://www.pctechguide.com/tutorials/RAID.htm
This seems to be a fairly easy to follow tutorial on setting up a RAID array. RAID isn’t necessarily a replacement for backup of your major files, because a corruption would be copied to both drives. However, in a professional setting, such as the one you have, the RAID setup would give you little to no downtime.
A few things: It’s got a bit of technical stuff, so it’s not the EASIEST thing in the world, but it’s not too bad. You have to buy redundant hard drives and a RAID controller (unless you have a fancy motherboard that supports it.)
You can gain similar backup abilities through something like Norton Ghost or another similar drive imaging/full drive backup software (it would just be slower, but you could do it at night or something.)
As far as Hardware crashes go, RAID 1 is the most effective way to deal with them. Ultimately, it’s a preference choice, and I’m sorry if you’re a MAC user, I may be able to find you a tutorial for that too.
Yeah, I’m not sure how you’re backing up now but online storage might get expensive.
I have an external drive (someone like you could have 2+ though) with 2 partitions, one that is the size of my hdd, and one that takes up the remaining space. I make nightly backups of modified files on the second, and maybe monthly (maybe) I clone an image onto the first.
I’ve heard of Norton Ghost. I might have to keep that one in mind.
For online storage, I was thinking about Mozy. It’s $4.95 for unlimited storage and I think if you sign up for the year, you get 3 months free.
Tom, a goo site that i use to back up my stuff online is carbonite (www.carbonite.com). It’s $55 for the year, and very easy to use.
Yes, but Carbonite is good for long-term storage of Corelian Smugglers as well as backing up files! (Just ask Jabba the Hutt.) 🙂