I recently delivered a bunch of XSLT templates to a (very) large client. They replied today, after a day or two of testing, stating that there are no bugs! Almost automatically, I was reminded of Lars Wirzenius’ priceless list of programming truths. For example, If it runs, it doesn’t have any bugs. But especially A 1% crash rate is actually pretty darn good.

Footnote: Lars Wirzenius is less well-known than Linus Torvalds, but probably fairly important to the overall development of linux. They are friends, and have been so for a long time.

I’ve been reading www.WrongPlanet.net a lot lately. For those who don’t know, it’s a site for those afflicted with autism or Asperger Syndrome, and for their families and loved ones. There are articles and various resources available, as well as some high-traffic forums devoted to every aspect of autism and Asperger.

The forums, of course, are what makes Wrong Planet fun to read. If Dustin Hoffman is what pops up in your brain whenever somebody says “autism”, do yourself a favor and go read Wrong Planet. These people are opinionated, intelligent, and articulate, and just about as far from Rain Man as you can get.

The film festival, that is. I screened 55 feature films in 11 days, some good, many bad, and some just boring. I would like to see the Canadian film C.R.A.Z.Y., though, instead of just screening it and watching bits and pieces. Great music and some very funny moments.

Next year’s supposed to be the 30th anniversary of Göteborg Film Festival. Only, it isn’t. I was present in the projection booth when what was to be the 13th festival was relabeled 14. Superstition was quoted as the primary reason by the then-festival-general Mr Gunnar Bergdahl, who could make a career at certain airlines with similar ideas.

Just a friendly reminder; I dislike history rewrites.

This B&W thing really bothers me. I screened George Clooney’s movie about the McCarthy era, Good Night, and good Luck earlier tonight, and of course it had to be in black and white. It looked pretty good, admittedly, but still… Wasn’t the world in colour then?

Black-and-white films are supposed to look artsy. Me, I think they look cheap. But maybe it’s the same thing.

Movie theatre patrons are a lot like children. They–

Never mind.

Moviemakers are a lot like children. They are constantly bothering projectionists with questions about the wrong things or just plain repeating themselves, put way too much value in their toys, and are only rarely self-reliant. There’s nothing like a film festival to make these traits obvious.

Kids have an excuse, though; they’re kids and there’s still time to learn.

The festival is rolling, again. The first film was an Icelandic epic, Beowulf and Grendel. Unfortunately, the print was somewhat damaged; reel 3 appeared to have been exposed to light while still being developed. Ugly as hell, and the soundtracks, SRD and optical, sounded just awful. Oh well.

…to the annual Göteborg Film Festival.