About Me

I ramble about a number of things - but travel experiences, movies and music feature prominently. See my label cloud for a better idea. All comnments and opinions on this blog are my own, and do not in any way reflect the opinions/position of my employer (past/current/future).

27 March 2017

Movie: Moonlight

There has been a lot written about Moonlight already - especially after the Oscars best picture presentation debacle - a low budget movie, featuring African-American cast, on a story of three parts of a young man - first as a boy, then a teenager and then a young man - charting his life through bullying, sexuality, poverty and drugs. There are incredible characters - be it Mahershala Ali's brilliant portrayal of the caring drug dealer; the protagonist Chiron, or even the bullies - it's a story that really sucks you in. The cinematography is stunning - especially the camera work in the opening scenes, where there is very little dialogue. 

Underlying this tale is also a tale of love - partially unrequited, and sexuality; themes that the other contender for best picture this year also had - but there is no real competition in who did it better. Moonlight is gritty, it is mostly sad, but it is engrossing and heartwarming none the less. It deserves all its honours.

26 March 2017

Amazon Video

It has been just over 3 months since the global launch of Amazon Video; and I have been a subscriber since then - initially to watch The Grand Tour - but there have been other things that have kept me paying. 

I have mostly been watching TV series but have also watched a few movies - even though I find that selection rather meagre. At least in SA. One of the interesting experiences was to see the difference in content between South Africa and Reunion - some content I had downloaded on my phone disappeared, while I had access to other content. 

I also find it strange that some of Amazon's own content is not immediately available - even if it is for an additional cost. Manchester by the Sea is the example that comes to mind, but there are other series that I have heard of but not seen on Amazon. I expect that will change over time - or at least I hope so.

 Technically, I have had few issues with streaming HD content on what is still a fairly slow 4 Mbps ADSL line - and that says a lot for Amazon's streaming codecs. I would prefer if my Nvidia Shield TV cached or otherwise downloaded content that is in my queue - but except for a few occasions, haven't had cause to complain.