symbols and imagination

When I first saw V for Vendetta, I remember being somewhat ambivalent towards both its message, the moral ambiguity of certain events in the story, and the movie as a whole. But was that just because they made me uncomfortable? If so, I'm glad I've seen it more times since then, as each time I've enjoyed it a little more, and come to appreciate its ambiguities and tightly woven semantic nets a little more as well (though I'm sure it'll take more watching to fully appreciate those aspects). For example, if anyone has occasion to watch the film, pay close attention to the overall dialogue concerning the nature of words, symbols, and ideas, a central theme in the movie - it's a wonderful introduction to semiotics in and of itself. Also, if anyone wants to talk out what V does to Evie to bring about change in her, I'm all ears, that's one of those things I'm hungry for any sort of opinion on.

Completely unrelatedly, having seen a good majority of Super Mario Bros 3 this past weekend, I remembered noting that for as simple as the game and its graphics and art are, it had a remarkable range of immersion. At least for me, anyway, and I guess I am known for getting a little too into things. Still, the idea of moving from pipe to pipe across a map requiring you to traverse a star filled, snowy cavern is an interesting image that implies a lot about the (surreal) nature of pipes and that 'world,' or how each level is integrated into what's shown on the map. Yeah, it's a 2D sidescroller, but between flame filled deserts with angry, animate suns and black sky'd wastelands and airship fleets and fields of carnivorous plants and haunted castles, I think if one uses their imagination a bit, Super Marios Bros 3 (or 2 or the first) can rival any Final Fantasy or whatnot.
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Bow shock is pretty (check out the imagelinks on the bottom)