You’ve got to hand it to the Wachowski brothers, they know how to maximise their franchise. Leasy kindly lent me her copy of The Animatrix so that I could enjoy the latest offshoot of the original Matrix movie without lining the Wachowskis’ pockets further. (So far I’ve paid to watch The Matrix itself in New York and London, bought the DVD and caught the The Matrix: Reloaded in Cambridge.)

As cash-ins go it’s an interesting, creative and admirable one. The Wachowskis pay their respects to the Japanese cartoons—“cartoons”: that word’ll upset the fanboys—that inspired their own work and display inspiration, acquisitiveness and shaky plotting as they guide a group of anime artists to produce a collection of short films based in the world(s) of the Matrix. They are so respectful that part of the extra “making of” material on the DVD cuts back and forth between American contributors speaking in English (or what passes for it in slacker-generation Hollywood) and Japanese contributors speaking in Japanese. There didn’t seem to be any subtitles, but it may be that I didn’t explore the menus fully.

In return for the loan of her DVD, little Lisa has been nagging me to review the thing here for days now. At last my torment is over. Why in Heaven’s name do so many of my friends want a mention on this ‘Blog? It’s like aspiring to be an extra on Crossroads.

*”There is no spoon.