District 9
This is a movie coming out by Neill Blomkamp, a South African filmmaker who has a number of shorts available online. His films tend to have science fiction themes, shot in a gritty, documentary style. District 9 appears to be an expansion on an earlier short film he did called "Alive in Joberg", available on Youtube which I also recommend you watch.
I don't want to say too much about his work, as I think you should really see it for yourself.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Horizontal Nature of German Politics
So Germany faces a problem. During the last election neither of the two main parties were able to gain a majority, not even with the help of their traditional allies. So they settled for a grand coalition between the two main parties in order to form a government. Neither were particularly happy, but presumably it would last a maximum of four years.
Well, four years are nearly up, and currently, things aren't looking good. Both of the main parties are slumping in the polls, so making a coalition with just one of the minor parties, as the main parties would like to do, may prove impossible. The solution would be a three-way coalition, however the parties are being picky. Basically the chart of German parties looks like this:
Parties that are beside each other are willing to work together, but not with anyone else. So for example, the CDU would like to work with the FDP, but no other party. FDP are willing to work with both the CDU and the SDP, but the CDU and the SDP don't want to work together. This leaves only four possible combinations for a coalition all members are happy with. Unfortunately, current polling doesn't favor any of them. Combined, this is their share of the votes:
Seems the only combination that might work is the CDU with the FDP, but if they don't capture a majority, there's going to be trouble.
Well, four years are nearly up, and currently, things aren't looking good. Both of the main parties are slumping in the polls, so making a coalition with just one of the minor parties, as the main parties would like to do, may prove impossible. The solution would be a three-way coalition, however the parties are being picky. Basically the chart of German parties looks like this:
Parties that are beside each other are willing to work together, but not with anyone else. So for example, the CDU would like to work with the FDP, but no other party. FDP are willing to work with both the CDU and the SDP, but the CDU and the SDP don't want to work together. This leaves only four possible combinations for a coalition all members are happy with. Unfortunately, current polling doesn't favor any of them. Combined, this is their share of the votes:
Seems the only combination that might work is the CDU with the FDP, but if they don't capture a majority, there's going to be trouble.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Chat Log V
I felt it was time for another chat log update. Who did I talk the most with this year? These numbers only reflect conversations held since May 1st of 2008.
#1 - Mai-Anh, again
#2 - Celeste, again
#3 - Joseph, again
#4 - Yunita, for the first time ever
#5 - Korea Robert, for the first time ever
#6 - Bonnie, somehow...
Really the fact that Yunita made it to fourth really means that I don't use AIM very often anymore. I haven't even talked to Bonnie since I left Korea, I just happened to have two really long conversations with her last May. Really, only the top five have I chatted with significantly more than most people this year. Conversations with these six people represent nearly 80% of my AIM use. That's way up from last year's 60%. In fact Mai-Anh and Celeste alone make up 50% of my conversations.
#1 - Mai-Anh, again
#2 - Celeste, again
#3 - Joseph, again
#4 - Yunita, for the first time ever
#5 - Korea Robert, for the first time ever
#6 - Bonnie, somehow...
Really the fact that Yunita made it to fourth really means that I don't use AIM very often anymore. I haven't even talked to Bonnie since I left Korea, I just happened to have two really long conversations with her last May. Really, only the top five have I chatted with significantly more than most people this year. Conversations with these six people represent nearly 80% of my AIM use. That's way up from last year's 60%. In fact Mai-Anh and Celeste alone make up 50% of my conversations.
Monday, May 11, 2009
My Review of Star Trek
Do not read if you haven't seen Star Trek yet.
Let's start from the beginning of the timeline. Spock is sent out with a substance called "red matter" which despite its great power apparently requires no more supervision or protection than a single 150+ year old Vulcan. Although just a single drop of "red matter" is apparently enough to create a singularity powerful enough to engulf the ejecta of a supernova, Spock is flying around with what looks like several gallons of the stuff. Spock shows up just in time to see Romulus get destroyed which is just as well as a device powerful enough to engulf a supernova would probably take Romulus with it.
Despite being in the path of an exploding star, The Romulans apparently took no measures to evacuate their citizens even though they have an entire empire in which to relocate people. This leaves a very angry Romulan with a very large starship who proceeds to chase Spock around until they both fall into a black hole.
Despite being described as a mining vessel it is heavily armed enough to destroy a Federation starship with relative ease. It then just sits there for the next 25 years waiting for Spock to show up. There is absolutely no evidence that Spock will ever show up. It seems he would have been just as likely to show up 3,000 years later as 25 years later. What the hell Nero is doing for those 25 years is never explained. How he kept his apparently all male crew from turning against him is beyond me. Just seems like after a few years, or even just a few months, some of the crew would get fed up with just sitting around waiting for Spock. There's no indication that he's any kind of great leader, just the captain of a well-armed mining vessel.
When Spock finally does show up, Nero sets out on his mission to destroy the Federation in order to save Romulus. Completely ignoring the fact he could have simply gone to the Romulan Empire, tell them what was going to happen, and give the Romulans enough of a technological advantage to destroy the Federation several times over before Spock even delivers the red matter.
Something that obviously never occurs to Spock once he exits the black hole is that maybe he shouldn't let Nero get a hold of the red matter. The stuff for creating black holes probably isn't terribly safe in the hands of a Romulan hell-bent on revenge. Isn't it exactly these kinds of situations that auto-destruct is made for? Sure Spock probably doesn't want to die, but it seems that the chances of coming out of this situation alive are pretty low to begin with. Besides, I'm pretty sure Spock has already died once or twice, he should be used to this. Nero proceeds to take the red matter and destroy Vulcan. Good job, Spock.
At Vulcan, Nero proceeds to destroy a small Federation fleet all by himself, thus proving that he really should have just gone to the Romulan Empire 25 years ago, but I guess there's no poetic justice in that. Vulcan apparently has no defenses of its own as they simply wait around for Kirk to show up and shoot at the drill with just a sidearm to stop it. Why exactly they even have to drill the hole is unknown. Seems like a black hole would do just about the same amount of damage no matter where you put it. Also, why in the world would anyone need a mining vessel so big that it could sit in space and drill to a planet's core?
So while Vulcan is being sucked into a black hole, the leaders are hiding in a cave from which they can't be teleported, the only method of saving them. It is later reported that only 10,000 Vulcans survived. Despite being an advanced, space-faring species, they never thought of setting up colonies. I'm starting to think that Vulcans are a bunch of idiots.
Fed up with Kirk, young Spock maroons him on some frozen wasteland of a planet, presumably leaving him to die because, seriously, how does he expect Kirk to survive on that planet? Miraculously, Nero had the same idea, and marooned old Spock on the same planet. He left Spock there to watch Vulcan be destroy as apparently the planet he was on was close enough to see Vulcan, but far enough away to escape the black hole.
Later on, Kirk and Spock are beamed abroad Nero's starship and reveal the interior to be a bunch of haphazardly placed platforms with no guardrails because if there's one thing spaceships lack, it's constant fear of falling to your death.
After all this, we are left with an ending that more or less tells us that the events that took place in every single Star Trek TV series or movie never happened, except Star Trek: Enterprise.
I still gave it a 77 on Criticker.
Let's start from the beginning of the timeline. Spock is sent out with a substance called "red matter" which despite its great power apparently requires no more supervision or protection than a single 150+ year old Vulcan. Although just a single drop of "red matter" is apparently enough to create a singularity powerful enough to engulf the ejecta of a supernova, Spock is flying around with what looks like several gallons of the stuff. Spock shows up just in time to see Romulus get destroyed which is just as well as a device powerful enough to engulf a supernova would probably take Romulus with it.
Despite being in the path of an exploding star, The Romulans apparently took no measures to evacuate their citizens even though they have an entire empire in which to relocate people. This leaves a very angry Romulan with a very large starship who proceeds to chase Spock around until they both fall into a black hole.
Despite being described as a mining vessel it is heavily armed enough to destroy a Federation starship with relative ease. It then just sits there for the next 25 years waiting for Spock to show up. There is absolutely no evidence that Spock will ever show up. It seems he would have been just as likely to show up 3,000 years later as 25 years later. What the hell Nero is doing for those 25 years is never explained. How he kept his apparently all male crew from turning against him is beyond me. Just seems like after a few years, or even just a few months, some of the crew would get fed up with just sitting around waiting for Spock. There's no indication that he's any kind of great leader, just the captain of a well-armed mining vessel.
When Spock finally does show up, Nero sets out on his mission to destroy the Federation in order to save Romulus. Completely ignoring the fact he could have simply gone to the Romulan Empire, tell them what was going to happen, and give the Romulans enough of a technological advantage to destroy the Federation several times over before Spock even delivers the red matter.
Something that obviously never occurs to Spock once he exits the black hole is that maybe he shouldn't let Nero get a hold of the red matter. The stuff for creating black holes probably isn't terribly safe in the hands of a Romulan hell-bent on revenge. Isn't it exactly these kinds of situations that auto-destruct is made for? Sure Spock probably doesn't want to die, but it seems that the chances of coming out of this situation alive are pretty low to begin with. Besides, I'm pretty sure Spock has already died once or twice, he should be used to this. Nero proceeds to take the red matter and destroy Vulcan. Good job, Spock.
At Vulcan, Nero proceeds to destroy a small Federation fleet all by himself, thus proving that he really should have just gone to the Romulan Empire 25 years ago, but I guess there's no poetic justice in that. Vulcan apparently has no defenses of its own as they simply wait around for Kirk to show up and shoot at the drill with just a sidearm to stop it. Why exactly they even have to drill the hole is unknown. Seems like a black hole would do just about the same amount of damage no matter where you put it. Also, why in the world would anyone need a mining vessel so big that it could sit in space and drill to a planet's core?
So while Vulcan is being sucked into a black hole, the leaders are hiding in a cave from which they can't be teleported, the only method of saving them. It is later reported that only 10,000 Vulcans survived. Despite being an advanced, space-faring species, they never thought of setting up colonies. I'm starting to think that Vulcans are a bunch of idiots.
Fed up with Kirk, young Spock maroons him on some frozen wasteland of a planet, presumably leaving him to die because, seriously, how does he expect Kirk to survive on that planet? Miraculously, Nero had the same idea, and marooned old Spock on the same planet. He left Spock there to watch Vulcan be destroy as apparently the planet he was on was close enough to see Vulcan, but far enough away to escape the black hole.
Later on, Kirk and Spock are beamed abroad Nero's starship and reveal the interior to be a bunch of haphazardly placed platforms with no guardrails because if there's one thing spaceships lack, it's constant fear of falling to your death.
After all this, we are left with an ending that more or less tells us that the events that took place in every single Star Trek TV series or movie never happened, except Star Trek: Enterprise.
I still gave it a 77 on Criticker.
Friday, May 08, 2009
Save the Economy, Smoke
BBC
Although it's been rescinded, it still pretty odd. Authorities in Gong'an County, China ordered government employees to purchase locally made cigarettes as a way to boost the economy. Probably one of the most short-sighted suggestions ever.
Although it's been rescinded, it still pretty odd. Authorities in Gong'an County, China ordered government employees to purchase locally made cigarettes as a way to boost the economy. Probably one of the most short-sighted suggestions ever.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Eurovision 2009
Eurovision is finally here. While the acts were decided over a month ago, I wanted to wait until May to take a look at what was in-store. I'm sorry to say, this year doesn't look like it will be quite as crazy as last year. There are no pirates, puppet turkeys, bearded Frenchmen, or Bosnians carrying live chickens this year. However, there are a few stand out acts I've decided to share with you. These will by no means be the best acts, just the ones I thought were the most interesting.
10. Netherlands - Winner of three categories, campiest song, best suits, and best use of Obama in a music video.
9. Ireland - Irish grrl rawk! They seem a little old for this, but I also think Ireland has given up on ever winning again, so it's a good match.
8. Belgium - It was Walloon's turn to pick. Guess, did they go with a French power ballad or an Elvis impersonator?
7. Latvia - Random Latvian rock song.
6. Greece - Sexiest shoulders ever.
5. Switzerland - This is actually a pretty fun rock song, which means it has no chance.
4. Ukraine - After their first win, the Ukraine learned that sex sells and they're not about to give up now.
3. Norway - Cute... the song's alright too.
2. Serbia - Ah yes, the "we've already won once, we can do whatever the hell we want" entry.
1. Czech Republic - Super Gypsy!
If you want to watch any other preview videos, they can be found at Eurovision's Channel on Youtube.
If you want to watch the live show, here's the schedule:
1st Semi-Final, May 12th 9PM CET (or 3PM in North Carolina)
2nd Semi-Final, May 14th 9PM CET (or 3PM in North Carolina)
Final, May 16th 9PM CET (or 3PM in North Carolina)
You can watch it online at Eurovision.tv live or afterwards if you miss it.
10. Netherlands - Winner of three categories, campiest song, best suits, and best use of Obama in a music video.
9. Ireland - Irish grrl rawk! They seem a little old for this, but I also think Ireland has given up on ever winning again, so it's a good match.
8. Belgium - It was Walloon's turn to pick. Guess, did they go with a French power ballad or an Elvis impersonator?
7. Latvia - Random Latvian rock song.
6. Greece - Sexiest shoulders ever.
5. Switzerland - This is actually a pretty fun rock song, which means it has no chance.
4. Ukraine - After their first win, the Ukraine learned that sex sells and they're not about to give up now.
3. Norway - Cute... the song's alright too.
2. Serbia - Ah yes, the "we've already won once, we can do whatever the hell we want" entry.
1. Czech Republic - Super Gypsy!
If you want to watch any other preview videos, they can be found at Eurovision's Channel on Youtube.
If you want to watch the live show, here's the schedule:
1st Semi-Final, May 12th 9PM CET (or 3PM in North Carolina)
2nd Semi-Final, May 14th 9PM CET (or 3PM in North Carolina)
Final, May 16th 9PM CET (or 3PM in North Carolina)
You can watch it online at Eurovision.tv live or afterwards if you miss it.
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