Category: Technology

"My mother told me to be wary of Fauns."

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Just got home from seeing Pan’s Labyrinth (imdb | rotten tomatoes), a film I’ve wanted to see ever since it got huge buzz at the Toronto film festival. It was, as advertised, Alice In Wonderland for adults: a child’s bizarre, sometimes grotesque visions as she copes with the horror of Spanish civil war. It was a disturbing, fantastic fairy tale; I wish I’d seen it at TIFF when I knew nothing about it.

.:.

Speaking of disturbing, we watched The Downfall (imdb | rotten tomatoes) yesterday, the story of Hitler’s last days in his Berlin bunker and of those around him, mainly from the perspective of his secretary Traudl Junge. It focused on how wildly erratic Hitler’s grasp of reality (and his tactical sense) was in those final days, as well as how his senior military members acted. Also interesting was how Eva Braun was portrayed; she was quite sympathetic, not the demoness the name tends to conjure. Anyway, we know how it all turned out — lots of cyanide pills and gunshot wounds — but it was a very interesting look at the final days of people at the whim of a madman, the only one among them not aware that the hounds are at the door.

As a side note: I wonder how tough it must be for German actors to put on as SS uniform, do a Nazi saulte and say, “Heil Hitler”. I guess they’re actors, and it’s what they’re paid to do, but man…I don’t know if I could dress up like Hermann Goering and recite lines about the superiority of the master race.

.:.

Other things we did today: got a much-needed haircut, got Nellie a 30GB Zen Vision M (pink, naturally), picked up a couple of DVDs (Brokeback Mountain & Good Night And Good Luck), tried to buy a TV (but were unsuccessful), watched the Senators demolish the Canadiens, finished updating my Shelfari collection, watched a bunch of shows on the PVR…and that’s pretty much it.

[tags]pan’s labyrinth, the downfall, hitler, traudl junge, zen vision m, shelfari[/tags]

That copy of The Da Vinci Code? Not mine.

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

My latest obsession: Shelfari. I’m slowly inputting my collection. The best part is how it shows you how many other people have the same books as you, and lets you browse their collections (or even chat with them) for recommendations. I told my brother about it too, and he’s got a shelf or two of his own.

Hat tip: Duarte.

.:.

I’ve finally finished watching loudQUIETloud (imdb | rotten tomatoes) after squeezing bits of it into many lunch hours. It was great to see that even bands who have as massive an impact on music as The Pixies did are made up of screwy individuals. David Lovering and his metal detector? Frank Black and his self-help tapes? Joey Santiago not recognizing his own baby? Kim Deal…full stop? Awesome, all of it; it reminded me that dorky people can be influential too.

By the way, I swear I have a different favourite Pixies song every day, depending on which one I heard last. Today it’s “Caribou”.

.:.

Google Reader has added user stats, which is piles o’ fun for a geek like me. Apparently in the last 30 days I’ve read 11,672 news items, or 389 a day. That’s probably a bit less than I’d usually do as there were a few days over the holidays when I didn’t read any, and just had to blow the items away. 400 a day sounds about right. I don’t read all of those, obviously; I skim the headlines and mark the ones I want to read.

[EDIT] That 400 doesn’t include the 300 or so I read for work each day.
[tags]shelfari, loudquietloud, pixies, google reader[/tags]

Sur la trace de Stephen J. Dubner

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The TIFF group has announced their top ten Canadian movies of the year; I can’t say I’ve seen any of them. Actually, five of them have yet to be released to theatres, so I don’t really feel bad. There’s some controversy over what was left out, but I’m not sure how anyone could be surprised that a film festival group would skip the commercially successful (relatively speaking; this is Canada, after all) films.

Anyway, Cinematheque will be showing each of them in the new year, so perhaps we’ll catch a few.

On a related note I bought tickets to see Doc Soup’s presentation of Jesus Camp next month. I really should buy a subscription; they just had a screening of The Bridge, another one I want to see.

.:.

Last night I emailed the Freakonomics guys about this story in the Globe:

“Ontario teens under the age of 18 will lose their driver’s licence if they drop out of high school under a new law passed Tuesday.”

Today Stephen Dubner emailed me back with a link to their blog post about the story. I love that these guys have a mega-book and they still a) blog frequently about interesting things, and b) read (and answer) email from random people with something to say.
[tags]tiff top ten, cinematheque, freakonomics, ontario driver’s license dropouts[/tags]

Load "*",8,1

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

They adore their 64s. Their Commodore 64s. Holy crap, that brings back memories. I don’t know how many people have fond memories of typing commands into a blue screen when they were 5 years old, but I’m one of them.

And before all you people roll your eyes and think what a geek I was for not being outside playing baseball when I was 5, I did that too. I was well-rounded. So suck it.

.:.

When I tuned into tonight’s Habs-Bruins game the score was 4-2 Boston. The Canadiens, however, were completely dominating — penning the Bruins in their own zone, getting good shots, cycling, shooting, holding the puck — so I expected, short of a goaltending miracle, that they would tie it up. And they did, with a few seconds left in the second. The Bruins took a 5-4 lead late in the third, but the Canadiens tied it up again. Finally, though, they were undone by shoddy goaltending and shoddier officiating. Michael Ryder was crosschecked to the ice in the offensive zone; the Bruins, of course, came up the ice and scored. It was the second straight shot from the point to beat David Aebischer, who didn’t exactly look sharp. Too bad; the Canadiens were two minutes from salvaging a point. Final score, 6-5 Boston. Argh.
[tags]commodore 64, canadiens, bruins[/tags]

Defining an interesting blog

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Like Scott Adams, Malcolm Gladwell has an amazing ability to break everything down logically and succinctly. His latest post about how to define racism — using Mel Gibson, Michael Richards and Michael Irwin as recent celebrity examples — is dead on.

Adams, for his part, points out today how American taxpayers could’ve been spared the expense of the Baker-Hamilton report on Iraq by just reading his blog.

.:.

Another blog I’ve come across more recently, but which is equally interesting, is The Economist’s Free Exchange blog. It’s written by multiple people, and it deals with economic issues. I know, I know, economic discussions usually rival duck calling and sock drawer organization for excitement, but Free Exchange is written in plain enough terms that it makes sense — and holds interest for — the average intelligent person. This post about a luxury goods embargo against North Korea is a good example; it shows how little politicians actually know about economics.

Of course, this newfound interest in plain-talking economics — which has led to a proliferation of blogs on the subject — is largely due to Freakonomics, but bravo to The Economist for running with it.

[tags]scott adams, dilbert, malcolm gladwell, racism, mel gibson, michael richards, michael irwin, baker-hamilton report, iraq, economist, free exchange, luxury goods embargo, freakonomics[/tags]

You don't have to be alive to be helpful.

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

From YesButNoButYes comes this Bravia ad send-up. Brilliant.

.:.

We finally got to see Casino Royale (imdb | rotten tomatoes) yesterday. In short: best Bond movie ever. I say this because it’s the one Bond movie that I would actually classify as a good film. Don’t get me wrong, I love Bond flicks. I have a soft spot for them, and owned them all as a teenager (as a gift my Mom got me every videotape up to The Living Daylights), so it’s not like I haven’t watched Thunderball or For Your Eyes Only a dozen times. But I always liked them for what they were, and top-notch cinema isn’t how I’d describe them.

Casino Royale, however, was very good. Not Oscar-caliber, mind you, but far better than most other action movies you see. Daniel Craig…bravo. Eva Green: hotttt. The parkour scene at the beginning: kickass. Welcome back, Bond franchise.

.:.

We also watched a little Canadian noir film last night, 7 Times Lucky (imdb | rotten tomatoes). It wasn’t very good. Truth be told I only watched it ’cause Liane Balaban was in it, so…yeah. Avoid it (if you’ve even heard of it).

[tags]bunny hopping, bravia ad, casino royale, james bond, daniel craig, 7 times lucky[/tags]

Fun with Yam and Sharp

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

A few things we found out last night while testing out the new TV and stereo:

  • Raptors games in hi-def look freakin’ amazing. The Lakers uniforms were so yellow it got hard to look at, and you could see every tragic after-effect of all that surgery on Dyan Cannon’s face.
  • The New World looks stunning on the new TV (and sounds equally stunning in surround sound) but not stunning enough to keep me from nodding off. Star Wars Episode III looks awesome too.
  • If I put the sub-woofer on anything higher than -5, the neighbours will likely kill me.
  • I can’t get the universal remote to control the amp — maybe the codes in the book aren’t made for this new model? — but I did accidentally stumble across the code to control my Soundbridge.
  • Speaking of the Soundbridge, even 128-bit MP3s streamed across a wireless connection sound brilliant on this stereo. The guy who came to set it up was surprised how good it sounded, considering what poor sound you get when you plug an iPod into a real stereo.

[tags]new tv, new stereo, sharp aquos, yamaha, definitive speakers, the new world movie, star wars episode iii, roku soundbridge, raptors, lakers, dyan cannon, hdtv[/tags]

Little swag, anybody?

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Now that my new TV and stereo are here, I’m selling the old stuff. If anyone in the GTA (who’s willing to come pick it up) would like to buy anything, the items are up on eBay as of today.

Everything’s in near-perfect condition. I take good care of my gear. I also have a Sony VCR that I’m selling, but the selling price isn’t even worth posting it. I’ll take $10 for it; if anyone’s interested, email me or leave a comment.

[tags]out with the old, in with the new[/tags]