I haven’t seen The Cell. This film shares the director, Tarsem. It looks way more interesting.
It seems that very few people have heard about, much less seen, this movie, which depending on who you go by either came out in 2006 or in May of this year. I would love to see it. Incidentally the trailer uses one of my favourite classical pieces of all time, but I don’t know the title or composer. Shame on me!
Geoff did an admirable job of putting together Fiction Writeology and there were curry wraps and everything. The problem we seem to be having with Slackademics is that more often than not, about 70-80% of the people who “confirm” attendance don’t show up. We were supposed to have 9-10 people tonight and it was just me, Jay and Geoff. I felt bad that Geoff dutifully printed up so many copies of the handouts.
However he had an interesting idea – take $5 as an admission fee. People seem to take things more seriously if they’ve put money – even a small amount – down for something. We could even give them a full refund IF THEY SHOW UP. Or just spend it on food for the night. I don’t know if that will work but it seems worth a try.
Recently a coworker commented on her younger sibling’s graduation ceremony from grade eight to grade nine. Naturally I said something cynical and wry like “oh you big kidder – they don’t have grad ceremonies between those grades, how gullible do you think I am?” knowing full well that in this day and age, of course they do.
And I was reminded of that scene from my favourite superhero movie, The Incredibles, where Mr Incredible is chided by his wife (Elastigirl if you recall) for not attending his kid’s similar grad from 2 single-digit grades. Part of his response was “they keep coming up with new ways to celebrate mediocrity.” A recurring theme in the film is that when everyone’s special, no one is.
And then I read the Tyee ‘review’ of Kung Fu Panda. Like so many computer animated films, this is a movie I want to like, but I’m pretty sure I won’t. That’s neither here nor there for the topic of this post. The important bit from the article is this:
In a recent article in The New Statesman entitled “The Kindergarchy: Every child a dauphin,” Joseph Epstein makes the argument that convincing children that they’re great often has the opposite effect.
Writes Epstein: “The consequences of so many years of endlessly attentive childrearing in young people can also be witnessed in many among them who act as if certain that they are deserving of the interest of the rest of us; they come off as very knowing. Lots of their conversation turns out to be chiefly about themselves, and much of it feels as if it is formulated to impress some dean of admissions with how very extraordinary they are.
Despite all the effort that has been put into shaping these kids, things, somehow, don’t seem quite to have worked out. Who would have thought that so much love in the home would result in such far from lovable children? But then, come to think of it, apart from their parents, who would have thought otherwise?”
Although Epstein’s rant has little too much “When I was your age…,” he has a point. You can see it reflected in a film like Kung Fu Panda, where the titular hero, having nothing but innate, albeit unrecognized genius, triumphs, while others of far greater ability and training fail. I hear similar stuff when my mother complains about her creative writing students who never bothered to learn the basic (boring) craft of writing, but nonetheless want to be commended for their natural and instinctive genius.
I agree with this. It seems to me that the Sesame Street mantra of You Are Special can easily be twisted into a license for laziness and complacency. That any potential is there seems to be enough for some, why bother to try to fulfill it?
The Incredible Hulk was quite good until they got to New York. Tim Blake Nelson was fantastic as always but everything that happened after his introduction seemed quite disconnected to the rest of the movie. Everything involving Tim Roth was dull. The final Hulk battle was really unsatisfying, whereas the first two were engaging. Really, they lost me when Banner said “we made this thing, I have to do this.”
X2 (Wolverines backstory): 8
Spider-Man 2 (Doctor Octopus): 8
Spider-Man (Green Goblin): 8
X-Men (Brotherhood of Mutants): 7
Superman Returns: 7
Incredible Hulk: 6.75
Batman Begins: 6
X-Men: The Last Stand (Phoenix/Mutant Cure/the one with Toren in it): 6.5
Hulk (Ang Lee’s): 6.5
Spider-Man 3 (Venom & Sandman): 6
Iron Man: 5
Electra: 5
Fantastic Four (Doom): 3
4: Rise of the Silver Surfer: 3
Last night I submitted my application for dispute resolution with the Residential Tenancy Branch. As some of you know my last landlord did not give me my damage deposit.
your Application for Dispute Resolution has been approved. An Information Officer will contact you with a hearing date, and send you your hearing package.
Exciting times! I’ll keep you posted because I know you care.
Chris Pramas crystallizes one of the things that bothered me about D&D 4th Edition but I couldn’t place.
No Newb Class: In every previous edition of D&D there has been at least one easy-to-play class that you could start people off with, fighter being the classic choice. 4E gives an equal number of powers to all classes, which means that playing any of them is like running a spellcaster in previous editions [emphasis mine]. There are at least some suggested builds for each class, so that’s something but playing a 4E character for the first time still requires a more decision making than I think is advisable for new gamers.
Boing-Boing via Tony Marsh brought this to my attention:
Talking points for Canadians speaking to their MPs about the Canadian DMCA
Posted by Cory Doctorow, June 17, 2008 5:18 AM | permalink
Brendon sez, “With the tabling of Bill C-61 in the Canadian Parliament, there has been a lack of a concise set of ‘talking points’ that summarizes the ramifications of the bill in plain language. This document attempts to capture such a set of talking points for review by the copyfighter community at large. Keep in mind that this document must provide a rational argument against C-61, as a fact-based, non-emotional debate is key to our success in defeating C-61.”
This bill is bad for Canadians for a number of reasons:
1. It reduces your rights: Consumers will continue to be able to use copyrighted materials for research, private study, criticism, review or news reporting, but will no longer have the means to exercise those rights when the copyrighted materials are protected by DRM.
2. It reduces reduces the usefulness of your media: Consumers will no longer have the right to take commonly purchased physical media, such as DVDs, or downloaded DRM-protected files, such as digital music, and make copies for their personal use.
3. It forces you to buy media youve already purchased: Consumers will be unable to unlock media theyve legally purchased in the past for use on new devices, and hence will be forced to buy the same content again and again.
4. It makes your devices less useful: Consumers will be able to do less, not more, with new devices they purchase, as many of these devices may, at any time, limit the users access to media they have a legal right to view, modify, or redistribute.
5. It reduces competition and innovation: Consumers will be unable to influence the market by finding new uses for their existing media and copyrighted materials, limiting the application of ingenuity that can lead to the creation of new applications and markets for Canadians and the world.
6. It makes public domain works inaccessible: Consumers will have the right to re-use works in the public domain, but in cases where those public domain works are protected by DRM, consumers will not have the means to exercise those rights and hence will lose access to their own heritage.
The makings of the Rhinosferatu Comic.
It’s all terribly staged.
This coming weekend is my 20th High School Reunion. Let me sum up in zero words how interested I am in attending:
I read these. They’re good, but I don’t really need to keep them:
Top 10 volume 1
Pride of Baghdad
Astro City: Life in the Big City
Maybe you have some similar books that you might want to trade?
