Free Republic

JOSH COOKE DOESN'T REMEMBER what he was thinking at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 17, when he went up to his room after eating dinner with his parents. He remembers what he was listening to on his headphones -- "Bodies," by metal drones Drowning Pool -- and what he did. "I just kinda looked over at my `Matrix' poster," he says, "and then I looked over at my gun." The 19-year-old donned combat boots and a black jacket -- like Neo, the hero of the 1999 movie and its sequels. He filled his pockets with shotgun shells. Then he picked...

.. I had to clear my mind. Zero out the drive with random bits. A movie might help. Went to the mall, stood outside, thought: do I really want to do this? I’ve read the reviews – well, not the reviews themselves; people drop spoilers so casually now. (I should note that I consider anything more detailed than a cast list a spoiler.) But I’d gotten the scent from the headlines and the message boards chatter: Matrix 3 was worse than 2. But I had to see it at some point. Might as well be now. If you recall...

The Matrix: Revolutions" opened Wednesday in a first-ever worldwide debut on 10,013 screens in more than 94 countries and in 43 languages, including Hungarian and Turkish, and has already pulled in over $43 million. Needless to say, the film – the third and final in the "Matrix" series which has brought its creators Andy and Larry Wachowski something like a half billion dollars, throwing in DVD and sundry auxiliary sales – can only add to that figure, possibly setting a record for the movies. The critics, at least the American ones in major media outlets, were lukewarm to downright scornful....

Communists picket Matrix premiere to celebrate revolution Communists picketed the Moscow premiere of The Matrix: Revolutions to celebrate the jubilee of the Russian revolution. A group of 32 youngsters wore red T-shirts, Soviet army helmets and Matrix-style dark glasses outside the Pushkinskiy cinema. They each held up neon-lit letters which spelt out the slogans "We are NEO-communists" and "Destroy the Matrix". According to Communist Party ideologists, the Matrix series' central hero Neo is a genuine communist, reports Kommersant. Oleg Bondarenko, Communist party youth movement leader, said there was "no difference" between Neo and Lenin as revolutionaries. Story filed: 10:17 Friday...

<p>LOS ANGELES — Which way do you spin "The Matrix Revolutions"? The third movie in the cyberpunk trilogy earned $24.3 million at the domestic box office in its first day of release, Warner Bros. said Thursday.</p> <p>That's a great one-day total for any other movie, but it comes in far below what "The Matrix Reloaded" collected in its nationwide debut last spring.</p>

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: State to link up private dataSocial Security numbers, driver's license fingerprints would be part of crime database By DUANE D. STANFORD and JOEY LEDFORD The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Georgia officials plan to contribute confidential driver's license and auto tag information from millions of Georgians to a crime-fighting database even as five other states have backed away because of concerns about cost and personal privacy. The detail in the data is astounding: Past addresses and telephone numbers. Neighbors' addresses and telephone numbers. The make, model and color of registered cars. Business associates. Speeding tickets. Arrests. Marriages and divorces. Names...

Caught in the Matrix?States' data project ignites privacy fearsBy JIM KRANE Associated Press NEW YORK -- While privacy worries are frustrating the Pentagon's plans for a far-reaching database to combat terrorism, a similar project is quietly taking shape with the participation of more than a dozen states -- and $12 million in federal funds.The database project, created so states and local authorities can track would-be terrorists as well as criminal fugitives, is being built and housed in the offices of a private company but will be open to some federal law enforcers and perhaps even U.S. intelligence agencies.Dubbed Matrix, the...

<p>NEW YORK (AP) &#8212; While privacy concerns are frustrating the Pentagon's plans for a far-reaching database to combat terrorism, a similar project is quietly taking shape with the participation of more than a dozen states and $12 million in federal funds.</p>

<p>While privacy worries are frustrating the Pentagon's plans for a far-reaching database to combat terrorism, a similar project is quietly taking shape with the participation of more than a dozen states -- and $12 million in federal funds.</p> <p>The database project, created so states and local authorities can track would-be terrorists as well as criminal fugitives, is being built and housed in the offices of a private company but will be open to some federal law enforcers and perhaps even U.S. intelligence agencies.</p>

And now for something completely different, a depiction of a ping pong match taking place in ... the Matrix: http://www.astercity.net/~tobik/pingpong.html

OAKLYN, N.J. - Matthew Lovett was known as an angry young man: He dressed all in black, drew violent pictures and walked around town with a baseball bat. Acquaintances said he kept a list of people who had teased him as far back as grade school. Early Sunday, Lovett, 18, was arrested with two other teenagers on charges they plotted to kill three teens and open fire randomly on other people with a cache of guns and ammunition they were carrying. Lovett was being held on $1 million bail Monday. Authorities would not discuss a possible motive, but people who...

WASHINGTON – When Tonda Lynn Ansley confessed to shooting her landlord on a crowded street, she cited the movie "The Matrix" as evidence the killing was "morally right." Ms. Ansley, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity last month, told homicide detectives in Hamilton, Ohio, she was living in "The Matrix," a violent movie in which "they commit a lot of crimes" and "you think it's a bad dream." Ansley is not the only defendant to invoke a movie as defense in court. Whether as inspiration or evidence of insanity, movies have been cited by suspects as diverse...

CAIRO (AFP) - The Hollywood science fiction hit movie Matrix Reloaded has been banned in Egypt for threatening to offend traditional religious views on the creation of humankind, the chief censor revealed. The director of artistic censorship, Madkur Thabet, said that "despite its excellent technical level, the film was banned because it deals with subjects like human existence and creation. "And these are questions linked to the three monotheistic religions that we respect and which we believe in," Thabet added. "These questions have in the past provoked crises and tension." He said the decision was taken by a "committee of...

[Wed June 04, 2003 08:57PM] Warner Bros. have revealed the selected IMAX theatres that will be showing The Matrix Reloaded in full IMAX format across the United States and Canada. They have also announced that The Matrix Revolutions will be released simultaneously to normal cinemas and to IMAX cinemas on November 5, a first for an IMAX film. They have also announced that The Matrix Revolutions will be released simultaneously to normal cinemas and to IMAX cinemas on November 5, a first for an IMAX film. Matrix Reloaded IMAX List Opening June 6, 2003 United States Addison, Illinois - Addison...

I have been chewing over a very personal story about a very private person who is involved in a very public business and a very successful movie franchise.To paraphrase a person who is better than I, these are the mometns that define us.Unforunately these are the momnets that define the entertainment business overall. Every indication I have that is Larry Wachowski is changing his sex. Dressing in public as a woman, taking femal hormones and yes having a sex change operation.

Attorney Says 'The Matrix' Caused Man To Kill Parents Similar Defense Has Been Successful In Other Cases POSTED: 3:43 p.m. CDT May 30, 2003 UPDATED: 3:50 p.m. CDT May 30, 2003 WASHINGTON -- The attorney for a 19-year-old Virginia man accused of murdering his parents with a shotgun says his client was influenced by the movie "The Matrix," KMBC's Peter Barnes reported. Joshua Cooke was allegedly obsessed with the movie. He had posters and wore the film's signature leather clothes. And the shotgun he allegedly used to shoot his parents to death with this February was similar to one...

28 MAY 2003 Man of the moment Keanu Reeves has shown his generosity by giving away £50 million of his earnings from the Matrix sequels. The 38-year-old decided to hand over the money to the unsung heroes of the sci-fi blockbusters - the costume and special effects teams. Keanu is expected to make a total of £70 million from the films, thanks to a deal which guarantees him a 15 per cent profit-share, so he will still net around £20 million. Asked about his prodigious act of generosity, the actor said he already had enough cash. "Money is the last...

Last Updated: Tuesday, 27 May, 2003, 11:02 GMT 12:02 UK Matrix sequel pirated online The third film, The Matrix Revolutions, will open in November. Pirate copies of blockbuster hit The Matrix Reloaded are available to download online, less than two weeks after the film went on release around the world, BBC News Online has learned. A high-quality copy of the film is being downloaded by hundreds of people each day via a website which uses the file-sharing computer program BitTorrent. The availability of the film online will come as a blow to executives who co-ordinated a worldwide release of the...

Despite the clear success of family-friendly, and even Christian, movies, such as MONSTERS, INC., MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, ICE AGE, THE ROOKIE, and SPIDER-MAN, Hollywood is rolling out a number of major R-rated movies this summer, including THE MATRIX RELOADED, TERMINATOR 3 and AMERICAN PIE 3. The recent astronomical box office for MATRIX RELOADED proves that the core audience of teenage boys was not stopped by the movie’s R-rating and the strict admission policies at many theaters. One teenage MATRIX fan, quoted by the Los Angeles Times on May 19, 2003, said she and her peers have to see...

There's No Exit From the Matrix The Matrix Reloaded" is so dull, so literally ruled by Laurence Fishburne's trance-inducing Morpheus, that I had to reload the "Matrix" DVD to remember why I had been taken with all those streaming digits the first time around. But never mind. You can't argue with a $135.8 million four-day opening, which in itself validated the movie's premise. It's the conceit of the "Matrix" films that most of mankind is plugged into a virtual-reality program conjured up by all-powerful machines to tease our brains while they loot our bodies for bioelectric power. AOL Time Warner,...