See Honey...

Movie Roundup

Back to blogging. First up, some of the more interesting movies I've watched in the last few months.

One of the best was Once Were Warriors.(Lee Tamahori, 1994) ..."a family descended from Maori warriors is bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts." Engrossing film but there's some very nasty violence. Highly recommended.

We just recently watched Crash (David Cronenburg, 1996). It's definitely "out there" as films go. I'd call it fetish porn with a plot. Weird people getting off on combining car crashes, mutilation and sex. Not for everyone but intriguing none-the-less. Don't ask me whether it's a commentary on the human condition.

Another weird film in a totally different way was The Happiness of the Katakuris (Takashi Miike, 2001) - a musical, comedy, horror. Yes, that's right. A musical and a comedy and a horror film all with English subtitles. The Katakuri family open a remote guest house but their guests keep dying so they hide the bodies. It features B-grade over-the-top camp acting and segues into claymation. I almost turned it off but the script is quite good as it explores the pursuit of happiness. Goofy fun.

I was very disappointed with the ending of Meet Joe Black (1998). Hollywood had to draw it out and make it sweet. Abysmal I enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha (Rob Marshall, 2005) but it also had the wrong ending. Very entertaining though.

Sideways (2005) is an excellent "guy" film that still has me smirking at bottles of merlot. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004) was much better than I expected. Kingdom of Heaven (2005) is a good epic. All recommended.

Finally saw Once Upon A Time In America (2003 Director's Cut) and Midnight Express (1978). Classics.

We recently cancelled our subscription to Sky (UK satellite TV). We simply don't watch TV that much and Freeview is good enough. Instead, we've increased our DVD subscription service since we prefer films to the garbage on the telly.

Blog Housekeeping

I haven't been posting lately but I have been working on this blog.
I've consolidated my blog databases and migrated both blogs I write to
a new blogging platform called Subtext. Over the next couple of months, I'll be changing and tweaking the skin (UI).

If you notice any strange displays or behaviour, please let me know

Cable Chewing Cat

Our cat likes chewing on cables and it's becoming a bit of a problem. There's alot of cables around our house. So far, he's chewed through:

• one ethernet backbone disrupting the home network


• two xbox controllers


• one Nokia phone charger


• the left channel of a cheap audio interconnect


• one very expensive audiophile-grade audio interconnect

That last one was really, really annoying. I've become reaquainted with my soldering iron fixing all this stuff. Now when something doesn't work, the first suspect is the cat.

The surprising thing is that he hasn't chewed through a power cord yet. I hope he does! That will teach him a lesson. Although it would be sad to come home one day to a frizzled smoking cat ("Honey, what's that smell by the stereo?"). Meanwhile, I'm wondering whether there's something I can wipe on all the cables to stop the chewing.

Renaissance le Film

Not very often that a film breaks new ground but Renaissance le Film looks set to do that. It's almost pure black & white - minimal gray scale. It's part live action (motion capture) and part animation/modelling using Maya, SyFlex and Air. Genre is sci-fi/action. I caught a brief article on it while flipping through the April issue of 3D World magazine. Terrific graphic style. Check out the trailer (Firefox worked more easily). Read more at imdb.

It comes out March 15th in France and hits the rest of the world later this year.

Can't wait to see it.

Gone to Austria

I'm flying to Austria tomorrow morning to go skiing with a couple of buddies in the Zauchensee. It's my first trip to that country and I'm looking forward to seeing a little bit of Salzburg if time permits. Don't think I'll be doing the "Sound of Music" tour.

We got really cheap flights with Ryanair out of Stanstead. Unfortunately the flight is at 6 am so I've got to leave home by 3 am. Ugh. Worse yet, there's been an accident on the M11 so they closed the motorway. It might be a bit of nightmare getting there even at that time.

US on Oppressive Regime List

Ethical Consumer magazine is revising how they assess whether a country's regime is oppressive (issue EC98). This is then used to flag corporations that support these regimes so that you can avoid buying from them. The list criteria is still being revised but Sudan, China and Burma are proposed as the most oppressive regimes. Of course it's pretty hard to avoid buying stuff made in China.

Countries are ranked on occurences of 8 criteria. Turns out the the US scored 4 because of prisoners of conscience, torture, disappearances and the death penalty so it now makes it on the oppressive regime list.

Well deserved.

Prophet Muhammad Cartoons

Well I think it's just amazing watching this global crisis of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons develop - a fascinating clash of values. Personally, I think both sides are basically wrong. I'm all for defending the freedom of the press but that freedom should be used judiciously. Satire has a place in raising awareness but I don't see this particular instance as having any merit.

Meanwhile, the groups of Islam fundamentalists that are over-reacting are clearly out of line in the way they are protesting about these cartoons. They seem to be using this as an excuse to vent a broader range of frustrations with perceptions of Islam.

Daffodils 2006

Nice to see the daffodils coming up in our back garden. I always find February and March a rather depressing time of the year. After Chinese New Year, the next thing to anticipate is Spring and the daffs are the first sign of it.

Got my tax return done and submitted online one hour before the deadline. I hate paperwork. Starting to think about what to do this year as we have no further holidays or events planned after this month.

Horrible Histories Live on Stage

Last Tuesday, I took the kids to see the Terrible Tudors live on stage at the Wycombe Swan. It's a play (more of a panto really) by the prolific Terry Deary who authored the most excellent Horrible History series of books The man should be given a medal for making history so interesting to children.

The stage show was excellent. We all enjoyed it and can now tell you a lot more about the Tudors. R* is studying the Tudors in school so the timing was great. They start with nasty Richard III and cover Henry VII, Henry VIII and his wives and finish with Elizabeth I. There's a good sing-a-long for remembering the fates of Henry VIII's wives (divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived) and a fun analogy of Catholics vs Protestants being like rival footballs teams.

If you have kids and the show comes to a local theatre, I highly recommend you take them. According to Ticketmaster, it's coming to Wimbledon, Birmingham and Edinburgh. We're going back to see the Vile Victorians this Saturday.

Kung Hei Fat Choi

The kids and I celebrated Chinese New Year last weekend by going down to the celebrations at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Unfortunatley, we got there too late to pick up any tickets for the various performances in the lecture theatre. Still, it was something to mark the occasion. Jenny's been away in Malaysia for two weeks and only got back last night.

One thing that struck me at the V&A was how stale and very traditional the displays of Chinese culture were. There must tons of exciting new art going on in China. I would much rather see new trends and displays by artists that are reinterpreting the old traditions.

Anyway, Happy Year of the Dog!

Lottery Therapy

I bought a lottery ticket yesterday.

I rarely buy lottery tickets. Clearly, the odds of winning are ridiculously slim so a lottery, to me, isn't about winning. No, what a lottery does is give you a few delightful days of fantasies about being really, really, wealthy.

You're not going to win so make the best of those fantasies. That's really what you've paid for. The right to a fantasy that just might come true. Once you get past the many hedonistic fantasies, you can start thinking about what you really want and value. And when you don't win, you can start thinking of other ways to get where you'd like to go. I should write a book about it and call it Lottery Therapy.

The EuroMillions draw is for £100 million this Friday. Ridiculous jackpot isn't it? But, hey, great fantasy material!

Iran's Nuclear Stance

I've been watching with some bemusement the debacle over Iran's pursuit of nuclear technology. I'm inclined to side with Iran.

As I see it, for better or worse, the current principle is that nations have the right to develop whatever technologies they want despite whatever risks they entail (nuclear, genetic, nano, etc).  A nation does this within any treaties and restrictions it has signed up to with other nations. The caveat, however, is that weapons development which threatens regional security can attract sanctions and worse.

Iran has the right under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) to develop a nuclear fuel cycle under inspection. Would I trust them not to develop nuclear weapons. Nope! Of course not. But they still have the right to develop nuclear energy technologies.

The West proved very well that you just have to get past the bouncer at the door and once you're inside the nuclear club, everything is OK. India and Pakistan were welcome with open arms after their nuclear tests. You can only join the club by deception. It's a losy way to control technology.

What irks me is the "haves" controlling the "have-not wannabee's". Shouldn't there be a broader consensus on how dangerous technologies get developed and controlled? Genetic-modification is seriously dangerous. Nanotechnology can be too. Human cloning could be nightmarish. Is the club of nations that develop these technologies the ones who get to control them?

Skiing Mount Washington

We arrived back home yesterday. Thanks to everyone who hosted and fed us! As usually, it was great visiting everyone but wish we had more time.

The ski trip to Mount Washington went well. Enough snow fell just before we arrived on the Monday to open most of the runs. In fact, a blizzard kept us indoors on Tuesday (although Jenny did brave it for her lesson) and a 24hr power outage kept us in the dark on Wednesday. Altogether, I managed to get in three good days of skiing without too many body aches. The picture is me at the top of Mount Washington on Thursday. It's absolutely beautiful up there. The kids did well. K* was very enthusiastic and managed to ski down a blue run. R* was much more cautious. Unfortunately, Jenny seems to have cracked a rib but isn't quite sure how she did it!