The Null Device

Enigma and other delirious ravings

Blah. I seem to have come down with a bug of some sort; I spent much of the day lying in bed feeling like death warmed over. Not at all fun.

Anyway, seeing how I wasn't going anywhere, I dragged myself down to the local video library and rented Enigma. Not a bad film; it seemed rather faithful to the Bletchley Park story, and didn't butcher or simplify things for the sake of mass-market appeal; and the settings and incidental music were quite apt too.

(aside: Isn't there now a cryptographic museum at Bletchley Park? And how does one get there from London?)

The DVD came with a bunch of interviews and the like, which were the usual fare; interesting to note how many times Saffron Burrows (who was a committed Marxist) uses the word "class" in hers.

(Tangent: is it officially Sir Mick Jagger or Sir Michael Jagger? And I wonder who will be first to get a knighthood in a few decades' time: Damon Albarn or Liam or Noel Gallagher.)

There are 12 comments on "Enigma and other delirious ravings":

Posted by: alex http:// Thu Jul 18 07:55:30 2002

get well acb! we are lost without your persnickety cd and gig reviews! if you haven't, read some www.achewood.com, it's really good. via drew.corrupt.net.

Posted by: alex http:// Thu Jul 18 07:57:25 2002

http://www.achewood.com http://drew.corrup.net

Posted by: alex http:// Thu Jul 18 07:57:52 2002

http://www.achewood.com

http://drew.corrupt.net

gaahh

Posted by: Jim http:// Thu Jul 18 13:13:59 2002

Yep, there's a museum at bletchley park. It's a pretty easy trip from london - train from Euston and then a short walk.

http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/

is the URL for the site. I liked the film too, but was annoyed at the lack of any reference to Turing. Seeing a room full of bombes ticking away was a buzz though.

Posted by: Ben http:// Thu Jul 18 13:39:43 2002

Did you ever see that movie U571, about how the Americans bravely captured the enigma machine from the dastardly German's submarine?

Posted by: acb http://dev.null.org Thu Jul 18 15:06:16 2002

I didn't see U571; it sounded too formulaic. And the thought of Harvey Keitel as Alan Turing seems just wrong.

Posted by: acb http://dev.null.org Thu Jul 18 15:10:06 2002

And I fully intend to be well enough to go to the Sir and Ninetynine gigs on Saturday. (Conveniently, the former is well before the latter.)

Posted by: Ben http:// Fri Jul 19 10:23:56 2002

You're right, it definately would have benefited from having Steven Segall aboard! Or even Bruce Willis would have helped somewhat.

Posted by: acb http://dev.null.org Fri Jul 19 14:42:32 2002

Or Chuck Norris. Actually, why not go the whole hog and get low-budget action/exploitation guru Menachem Begin to produce it?

Posted by: acb http://dev.null.org Sat Jul 20 16:07:13 2002

Sorry, that should have been Menachem Golan, not the former Israeli PM. (That's what happens when you blog when you're half-braindead from the flu.)

Posted by: Ben http:// Mon Jul 22 00:46:07 2002

I thought you were trying to be political.

Anyway, provided it had 'Mr. American Ninja' Michael Dudikoff in it it would be a sure-fire success.

Posted by: acb http://dev.null.org Mon Jul 22 04:39:17 2002

Or Frank Stallone and Joe Estevez, and a cast of topless babes on rollerblades, and perhaps a wrestler. And was directed by Donald G. Jackson (aka Maximo T. Bird).