Lo Fi Fo Fum

Andy did a post fairly recently about the declining quality of digital music. While I take no issue with his desire to enjoy music in as true a form as possible, I think that his central analogy could use some work.

He says: "if you think of music (well at least good music) as art, then using quite heavy data compression on a piece of music is similar to going to a art gallery but only being able to parts of the paintings and sculptures etc. because parts of it have been removed to reduce storage space".

In reality, though, surely, it is more analogous to looking at a digital photo of the Mona Lisa, and being unable to fully appreciate her smile, because of the resolution of the image.

What an outrage. Why should a computer have the right to alter a work of art in this way? The answer being, of course, that the digital image of the Mona Lisa is not the art, it is simply a representation of it that allows us to experience something of the feeling we would experience from looking at the real thing, without actually having to travel to Paris. In the same way, listening to an mp3 gives you a representation of the experience of listening to a live performance, and while the mp3 itself is not the art, it is opening up the accessibility of that art to a much wider audience.

Ultimately I don't think that it is important whether people are listening to music on cd, digital or vinal, or through headphones, good quality speakers or live at a concert. I think the important thing is that we are able to make the choice between the different ways we consume media and are able to pick the type best suited to our situation.

Personally, I have no interest in listening to high quality music on my computer. I listen to very little music for enjoyment, and generally will only have it on in the background whilst doing something else. As such, I don't really need expensive speakers, and the 4MB mp3s I generally deal in are perfectly acceptable to my ear. For people like Andy, who clearly care about the quality of the sound more than me, I think it's great that there are other options, but really they are specialist options, and should be approached in a specialist manner.

Linkables 5/1/8

I want to react to a couple of other posts, which I'll do later today or tomorrow, but for this one I'm just going to recommend a few links I've enjoyed over the last few weeks:

Firstly, cursor*10 is a great little flash game. The concept is very simple, and yet is one I don't think I've ever seen in any game (flash or otherwise). Even without instructions, the reality of what is going on hits you suddenly, and brilliantly. Because it's not a game-style I've seen before, I didn't have any real idea of the best tactic to use, which added to the novelty and re-playability. Give it a try.

Still on the flash-game theme, crayon physics is a hugely stylish and brilliantly pulled off physics playground. The object is to force a rolling circle into all of the stars in a given level, but the real joy is the beautiful crayon-drawing style of the engine, coupled with freeform physics. The puzzles (at least in this proof-of-concept demo) are simplistic, but totally open ended. Sure, there's an easy way to solve them, but that's not the point. Creating a solution involving balancing blocks on see-saws and a rube-goldberg-style set of collisions is much more rewarding than just drawing a simple ramp. Also notable is the music, which is haunting and calming simultaneously. I normally mute flash games and listen to my own stuff in the background, but the music here complements the child's-drawing feeling of the game so well that I left it on. Also, the sound is unmutable. And as if the demo itself wasn't impressive enough, the full version (yet to be released) looks mind-blowing. Can anyone else imagine having a great time playing this on a DS or a Wii? Nintendo, are you watching?

Next, a short film with a long title: Black People Hate Me and They Hate My Glasses is a great little movie about storytelling and racial issues. It's not particularly deep and doesn't have a message, but it's funny and snappy, and the editing is brilliant.

Finally, we have Porn For Girls By Girls, which provokes a snigger or two, from those with experience of the subject.

A duck and a fat lady, seperated by two eggs.

Firstly, of course, happy new year to all reading this. I don't feel quite as cynical as Dilbert (and, indeed many others) about New Years, but I'm generally pushed more and more in that direction as the date approaches:
It is arbitrary, and it really means very little. It's a changing of a number in our date system that marks one year since the last time we celebrated it. It's not the middle of winter, it has no religious significance, it is simply the fluctuation point of our method of measuring time passing. I'm certainly not suggesting that people should not celebrate it, and I'm absolutely in favour of getting together with friends for a late-running evening of celebration, even though it seems a pity that we need to be prompted to do it by a particular date in the year.

I don't, however like the fact that it turns into some sort of strange ritual. You have to be doing something for new year, you have to get drunk, you have to set off fireworks, it has to be the best night out of the year. Thankfully, in recent years the expectation and pressure within my group of immediate friends has decreased enough that the night itself is no longer marked by abject panic at the lack of a suitably large gathering. My point is not that big celebrations are bad, but that building up this one night into the pinnacle of the year's celebration, is asking for disappointment. As with most things, the best bit of an evening is often unplanned, and trying to predict and organise an extra special new year party for a group of people is going to leave some (if not all) unsatisfied.

In any case, I had a great new year's gathering, at which much Diet Coke was drunk, much Haribo was eaten, and the unexpected highlight of the evening (see above) was the multiple games of consequences, a game I had not taken part in since I was much younger, and had even started to assume was peculiar to my family, since I had never heard anyone else mention it.

Midnight passed with Jools Holland, Big Ben and the mandatory epilepsy-inducing London-Eye-based fireworks display (which of course, has to be bigger and better than last years), and all of a sudden we were into 2008.

I'm not a huge fan of new years resolutions, since every time I have made them, I have failed to keep them, so this year I've decided to pick out new years themes instead. Rather than specific goals to aim for (and miss), I've picked out two areas of my life I feel I need to improve, and will try to use 2008 to improve them. Certainly this could be seen as less motivational than a specific target (or set of targets), but I feel like I'm more likely to make a small effort day-to-day in a vague and general direction than I am to work on a more specific project or task. And even if I'm wrong, I've certainly done no worse than if I had resolved to go to the gym three times a week and failed before the 7th of January.

I didn't really plan on doing a new years post, so that was a bit more stream-of-consciousness than I intended. It's late, however, and I'm tired, so I'm not going back to edit it at this point.

Oh, and by the way - I've edited both my 'goodbye 2007' and 'filmography' posts a bit since I first wrote them, so if you haven't been re-reading them, I think they're pretty much in their final state now.

Just when you think things couldn't surprise you ...

... you find out Mike Huckabee's in a rock band called "Capitol Offense", thanks Wikipedia (thikipedia)

2007 in Film (a.k.a. Filmography: BamBi Edition)

Telf did this a while ago, and I've been meaning to do an equivalent post since I read his. Essentially I'll try to sum up my thoughts on every film I saw that was released in 2007, trying to keep it under twenty five words for each. I'll also give a score out of ten in the same way Telf did.

Spider-Man 3
Generally enjoyable, and I didn't dislike the comic style of dark Peter Parker as much as others seem to have. 7/10

Blades Of Glory
Some very funny parts. Heder steals the show, Ferrell is funny but going through the motions. 6/10

300
Visually mind-blowing, strong performances and story-telling, and the script is less distractingly cheesy the second time round. Excellent. 9/10

Zodiac
An excellent film with fine performances from Gyllenhaal and Downey Jr. Gripping storyline with staunch realism. A little overlong, and occasionally muddled however. 8/10

Blood Diamond
A great mix of action and drama, with some international politics thrown in. The cast are great, and the film kept me gripped throughout. 8/10

Hostel: Part II
Not as good as the first film, and a few of the extreme scenes feel unnecessary. Still a good story and a well made film however. 7/10

Ocean's Thirteen
Just as enjoyable, slick and humorous as the first film. The returning cast are all excellent, and Pacino is of course superb. 8/10

Die Hard 4.0 (Live Free Or Die Hard)
Standard action fare, with Willis back doing what he does so very well. Well made, great fun. 7/10

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
Having now read all the books, this comes across as too chopped up and watered down. Okay, but not great. 5/10

The Simpsons Movie
Not as good as the "classic" Simpsons episodes, but so much better than the tripe they churn out now. Very funny. 8/10

Transformers
The action sequences were too few and came across as muddled. A wasted opportunity, especially when doing slapstick with expensive CGI robots. 4/10

Knocked Up
An enjoyable and well made comedy. Paul Rudd steals the show in his scenes. Consistently funny, occasionally a little over-sentimental. 7/10

Notes On A Scandal
Judi Dench shows how brilliant she is. A chilling and gripping story. An excellent film. 8/10

Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End
Depp reprises his role well, but on the whole the film feels too long, confusing and uninteresting. 5/10

Hot Fuzz
Brilliant parody, character comedy, observational humour and action film. Excellent. 8/10

The Illusionist
A good film, but one that I was hoping would be a lot better, so a little disappointing. Enjoyable however. Norton is great, Giamatti superb. 7/10

28 Weeks Later
A different type of film to the first, but still very good, only occasionally becoming a little cliched in its devices. 7/10

Superbad
Enjoyable, but not great. Some parts are hilarious, others feel largely pointless. Very hit-and-miss. 6/10

Run, Fat Boy, Run
Overwhelmingly average and safe throughout, with a couple of fairly funny parts. Painfully disappointing from Pegg. 5/10

Day Watch (Dnevnoi Dozor)
Just as enjoyable as Night Watch. Very stylish and well written. Excellent. 8/10

The All Together
Confused and amateurish throughout. Freeman and Dyer go through the motions. Startlingly dark in places, but overall not good. 4/10

Ratatouille
The animation can't be faulted, as it gets better in each Pixar film. The story lacked focus, the characters depth. The ending seemed rushed. Fairly enjoyable however. 6/10

American Gangster
Solid throughout with some fabulous scenes and characters. Washington and Crowe are both excellent. A great film. 8/10

Beowulf
A gripping and unique take on the story. Great throughout, with amazing CGI and a wealth of excellent performances. 8/10

Daft Punk's Electroma
Occasionally a little slow and self-indulgent, but some beautiful cinematography and a captivating yet simple story make this a great film. 8/10

We Own The Night
Some great performances throughout and an excellent story for the first half. The film loses its way in the second half however, with a couple of decidedly dodgy plot turns. 6/10

I Am Legend
The first three quarters are excellent. Then it becomes your basic Hollywood action film which is a shame. Will Smith gives a great performance throughout. 7/10

I've not mentioned any of the films I saw for the first time this year, but weren't released this year. I may do that in another entry, but we shall see.

best of 2007

Best Film - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Outlaw Robert Ford
though i probably can't remember all the films I saw this year, this one definately sticks out.
(other mentions - Letters from Iwo Jima, Control)

Best Album - Black Holes and Revelations (Muse)
including probably my favourite song of the year "Knights of Cydonia"
(other mentions - An End Has A Start (Editors), also started listening to Led Zeppelin and Led Zeppelin IV is pretty damn awesome)

Best Live Show - Dylan Moran's "Like Totally"
also saw Bill Bailey and Ross Noble, but both dissappointed in comparrison to their earlier work (especially Bill).
(other mentions - Dixie Fairweather's Dirty Half Dozen at Ronnie Scotts (the name might be slightly different))

Best New TV Series - Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
as if Aaron Sorkin could dissappoint, can't belive this was cancelled.
(other mentions - Firefly which I saw on DVD this year and has also been cancelled)

may add more later

What the flick?

I've just read through Empire's list of their top 25 films of 2007 (chosen by their writing staff as opposed ot a public vote or something else). I just thought I'd make a few comments whilst the list is fresh in my mind...

I've only seen six out of the twenty-five, which I consider fairly pathetic. I've also never heard of several of them, which took me by surprise. I consider myself a film fan but this list from a mainstream film magazine has shown up my failings as a viewer. I intend in the year ahead to try and remedy this as much as possible. That said, lots of them did take my fancy just from the brief note on each film provided in the list, so hopefully this will give me lots of films to watch should I ever feel stuck for choice.

The list is by no means infallible however. Omissions which surprised me include American Gangster and 300, whilst films which I've seen such as Knocked Up (which was good but didn't strike me as outstanding), Superbad (which I didn't rate highly at all) and Ratatouille (which I seem to be in the minority in thinking is at best average compared to previous Disney/Pixar outings) have been included. There are films in there that I totally agree with however (Notes On A Scandal and Hot Fuzz are both superb). It just goes to show that even when looking at professional film reviewers' ratings, it all boils down ultimately to opinion. It may also signify that, although there have been smatterings of excellence, 2007 hasn't been a cinematically stellar year. Once again however, that pretty much comes down to opinion.

An interesting list to read (I won't reveal what's number one), if only to inspire reflection on your own opinions on films.

Goodbye 2007: BamBi Edition

As with Telf's original post, I'll probably edit and update this entry over the next few days and weeks as things come to mind.

Best film I saw at the cinema in 2007:
300

Best film I saw (for the first time) on DVD in 2007:
Pan's Labyrinth
(honourable mention: The Good Shepherd)

Best TV show that I saw for the first time in 2007:
Heroes
(honourable mention: Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip)

Best singles of the year:
Pendulum - Granite
Mark Ronson feat. Amy Winehouse - Valerie

Best albums of the year:
The Go! Team - Proof Of Youth
High Contrast - Tough Guys Don't Dance
Beastie Boys - The Mix-Up

Most annoying song of the year:
The Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger

Best artist I started listening to this year:
The B-52's

Best live show I saw this year:
Stephen Lynch
(honourable mention: Ricky Gervais)

Live show I wish I'd seen this year:
Bill Bailey

Most time wasted this year:
www.facebook.com
(honourable mention: www.stumbleupon.com)

Goodbye 2007

I want to do some kind of record of the stuff I've seen/done this year, but can't really think of a good way of doing it, so I'm just going to stick a load of things down as 'favourites' in various categories. Feel free to suggest other categories, or do your own, or whatever, either way, I reserve the right to add to/alter this over the next few days/weeks:

Best film I saw at the cinema in 2007:
Michael Clayton
(runners up: 300, The Bourne Ultimatum, This is England)

300 and the third Bourne film were both hugely entertaining films, exciting and adrenaline-fueled throughout, but I enjoyed the twisting storyline of Michael Clayton even more. George Clooney impresses me more and more with his willingness to produce and act in some really interesting and complex films.

Best film I saw (for the first time) on DVD in 2007:
Children of Men
(runners up: The Believer, Big Fish, Crash)

Can't believe I waited this long to see Crash and Big Fish, both of which are excellent. The Believer is much less well known (it seems) than it should be, but is brilliantly dark and has a fantastic performance from Ryan Gosling in the title role. Children of Men gets my vote, overall, though for providing an incredibly gritty view of future Britain, awesome cinematography, and an exciting, dark, story.

Best DVD extras I experienced in 2007:
Sin City (Recut and Extended).

Great mini-documentaries, two commentaries, all three stories in full, the original film without post-processing and the mandatory 10-minute cooking school. Plus a paper copy of The Hard Goodbye.

Best TV show that I saw for the first time in 2007:
The Wire (season 1)
(runners up: Robot Chicken (s1-3), Frisky Dingo (s1-2), Long way round (and Long Way Down))

Robot Chicken is the funniest programme, Frisky Dingo the most interesting programme and Long Way Round the best documentary I saw this year, but the Wire gets the overall choice. Despite its potentially fast-paced setting, it is willing to take its time and make you care about the characters on both sides of the case. The slow build up over several episodes makes it feel like a real police investigation, and it's not afraid to get its hands dirty in the darker side of the story too. Looking forward to seeing season 2.

Best single of the year (even though I know nothing about music):
Grace Kelly - Mika
(runner up: About you now - Sugababes, Shine - Take That)

Yeah, I'm a sucker for catchy pop tunes. I've really liked pretty much everything Mika has come out with so far, though, which is unusual for me and any one artist.

Most annoying song of the year:
Beautiful girls - Sean Kingston

Two girls played it repeatedly at full volume on a mobile phone on the back seat of a bus for 45 minutes. Like, no break, no change in song, just that one over and over and over again...

Best artist I started listening to this year:
They Might Be Giants

Weird, catchy alt-rock, that defies categorisation thanks to its variety. Perfect music to have on while travelling, less good for working, because it's so distracting. 'Istanbul (not Constantinople)', 'Doctor Worm' and 'Birdhouse in your soul' are probably my faves atm.

Best live show I saw this year:
Stephen Lynch

Also the only live show I saw this year, but that shouldn't detract from it's clear dominance over this field. Was amazing to see him in such a small venue, and, though he didn't have a huge amount of new material, his old stuff got more than a good reception. Unnecessary surgery dude...

Best game I played this year:
Portal
(runner up: Half Life 2: Episode 2, TF2) (Technically the Orange Box was the only game I bought this year, so choices were restricted).

Incredibly funny for a game with such a simple concept to it. Worth it for the credits song alone. Yahtzee got it spot on here, so I don't need to say any more. The developer's commentary is brilliant as ever - Valve clearly think a huge amount about every step of the design process, and it shows.

Most time wasted this year:
www.kongregate.com
(runner up: facebook)

Best podcast I started listening to this year:
Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's Film Reviews

Best blog I started reading this year:
Worse than Failure
(runner up: Awkward things I say to girls)

Special mention for best RSS feed that's not really a blog:
Zero Punctuation
(runner up: The Superest)

Superhero Circle 2 (Electric Boogaloo)

As a follow-up to the previous superest-style post a week or so ago, I present this week's special double-page edition (again, with translation):


The Sleeping Policeman: Letting crime come to him.

beaten by

The razor-wheeled cow of crime: "Moo-ve or get slashed".

beaten by

The Concrete Abbateur: Has a heart (and everything else) of stone.

beaten by

The Vegetarian Wrecking Ball: "You meat-eatin' bastards gonna pay!"

beaten by

The Rabboteur: "Eh, blown-up, doc".

beaten by

The ferocious, fiery, fear-frenzied, frumpy, fox-in-a-box

beaten by

Foxhunter Seuss: I will defeat you sam-I-am.

beaten by

Raging Rowling: Destroying children's literature of the past with tales of boyhood satanism.

beaten by

Warm-front Will: Bringing calm (and hugs).

beaten by

The secretly satanic huggy bear.

beaten by

Angelic Starsky and Hutch: Answering your prayers from the 70s.

beaten by

The Eighties Atheist: Cancelling out the values of the seventies through stocks and shares.

beaten by

Incorrect-racist-Robinson-Crusoe (with Black Wednesday).

beaten by

P.C Revisionist: Correcting those bits of literature that never really existed.

beaten by

Tippex Tex: Blottin' out whatever he feels like, Goldarnit!.

beaten by

Inca (Inker): Writes things in your entrails.

beaten by

Gutless Conquistador: Makes up what he lacks in courage with a hatred of indigenous peoples.

beaten by

Dutch Courage: Making even the most cowardly people as brave as Holland.

beaten by

Tea Totaller: -12e^(i*pi) steps to sobriety.

beaten by

Evil Stephen Hawking: No mathematical problem can defeat him, unless it's upstairs.

who, with beautiful symmetry, could be beaten by The Sleeping Policeman.

Walking in a Winter(val) Wonderland

There was a story on the BBC website last week about the Christmas message from the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan (full transcript can be found here) in which he rails against 'atheistic fundamentalism'.

I think I would agree with him when he says that fundamentalism of any kind is dangerous, but I would certainly disagree on his point that atheistic fundamentalism is comparable to religious fundamentalism in either occurrence or danger. He lists a number of perceived instances of atheistic fundamentalism, many of which are well known myths (addressed nicely by Oliver Burkeman here) or else simply smaller incidents blown out of proportion (such as the BA uniform controversy). In these smaller incidents, such as the BA situation and a couple of those mentioned in Burkeman's article, the decision or policy was reversed or amended in response to the situation, but this is rarely reported when the incident is brought up later by the media.

I mentioned in an earlier post about Mark Prichard's comments that I thought a lot of the instances of 'Christianophobia' that he mentioned were simply caused by changing social norms and increasing multiculturalism, and I think that the same point stands here. To take the BA example, as the company took on more and more Sikh and Muslim workers, there was bound to come a point when it would need to address its uniform policy on religious garments, and this is what happened. The problem is that the incident is not remembered as the point that BA was prompted to amend one of its employee clothing regulations, it is remembered as the point that a Christian employee was suspended from work for being a Christian.

Dr Morgan says: "To have a coherent and rational debate about the tenets of the Christianity is perfectly natural. To have a virulent, almost irrational attack upon it claiming that what is being said is self evidently true is dangerous". I think I agree with this point, but I think also that it is a point that could be applied to any religious position. I don't believe that he has provided any examples in his address of anyone (particularly anyone expressly atheistic) exhibiting "virulent, almost irrational attack[s]" on Christianity (or, indeed, any religious position), while at the same time, anyone who has heard a sermon in Church has heard a religious leader "claiming that what is being said is self evidently true".

I suspect that there are people out there who fit Dr. Morgan's criteria for a 'fundamentalist atheist', I just don't believe that there exist any in a position of power or influence comparable to those positions held by fundamentalists from other religious views.

The rest of his address does not seem to really touch on atheistic fundamentalism again, since he begins to talk about "the language of expulsion and exclusivity, of extremism and polarisation, and the claim that because God is on our side, He is not on yours". This clearly doesn't make sense with regards to atheistic fundamentalism, and neither does his use of the story of the reaction to Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry: "The God they want is a far more tribal figure, a God made in their own image, a God whom they can control and manipulate and manage", since the atheistic fundamentalist would have no desires at all about the attributes of something non-existent.

Mistletoe and Wine...

... are two things that will once again have zero involvement in my Christmas celebrations.

Between Christmas and New Year I might try to do some 'best of 2007' type posts, or some kind of 'looking forward to 2008' type posts, but in case I don't, I thought I'd say something now.

Thanks to everyone who has posted on and everyone who has read this blog over the five months or so that it has been running. Hopefully we will continue to have varied and exciting content being produced into next year, along with an ever increasing number of contributors.

I've started tracking some data about people accessing the site, so hopefully after a few months I'll be able to come up with some trends and averages and whatnot. I can safely say that the vast majority of the traffic to the site comes from the UK (and probably from people who are actually posting stuff too), but there have been visitors from North America and mainland Europe too. So hopefully we will see more external (ie. not authors) and more international visitors too.

In either case, Merry Christmas to all, and I hope everyone enjoys some aspect of the holiday season.

:P

Superhero circle.

Ok, last post for today, I promise.

Over the last couple of weeks, we've been playing a 'The Superest' style game after the quiz, and I felt that the (vaguely Christmas themed...) one we came up with last night was good enough to exhibit on here. So...


You should be able to zoom in on those to read them, but (for completeness, and because of our slightly dodgy handwriting...):

Santa "The Pimp" Claus: Ruling the world with his army of ho ho ho's

beaten by

The Christmas Crabs: Taking the safe out of unsafe-sex.

beaten by

The Festive Falcon: (image of dropping the crab on a rock).

beaten by

Old "Poacher" Scrooge: Wings it with his Lee-Enfield, then drains all its Christmas spirit

beaten by

The Ghosts of Gun-Victims Past: Bringing down the NRA one high-school massacre at a time.

beaten by

The Holy Hitman: Striking the dead back to whence they came.

beaten by

The "Altar Boy" Angler: No priest can resist the deep-sea innocence it promises.

beaten by

The Therapist: Always dredging up things from the deep.

beaten by

The Psycho Whore: She's insane, but she's also cheap.

which, with beautiful symmetry, could be beaten by Pimp Santa.

...now Lorraine has gone...

Just a couple of links:

Nick Clegg answers 'no' to 'do you believe in God?'. - I would have said this might have dealt his chances of becoming Prime Minister a blow, if he hadn't already ruined them by being leader of the Lib Dems. Glad to see a non-religious party leader, though - possibly the first one this country has had (can anyone confirm or deny that?). In any case, there was no indication whether his religious views would have any effect on his policies, and in reality it's just good to see that outright belief is not required to achieve (potential, if not likely) political power.

Anyone else find the overuse of quotation marks on the BBC website annoying? In the title of that article, 'does not believe in God' is in quotes for, as far as I can see, no good reason. It is not a direct quote, so why has the BBC decided to highlight it like this?

Radio 1 backs down over Pogues censorship - Reminded me of Bambi's post from earlier this month. My general anti-censorship attitude makes me glad of the eventual outcome, although I was confused by the quote from Andy Parfitt: "In the context of this song, I do not feel that there is any negative intent behind the use of the words". This seems odd, because, as far as I can tell, the words are absolutely being used with negative intent within the context of the song. I certainly can't imaging that Kirsty MacColl's character is referring to Shane MacGowan as a bundle of sticks when she calls him a 'faggot'. She is using an insulting and negative term, and the real question is whether people listening to the song are able to distinguish between terms used in a song-based argument by fictional alcoholics and words that are reasonable to use in a public context. I would like to think that this is the case, but who knows.

Lastly, I have finally got around to getting some glasses (technically a Christmas present from my parents), so my driving and cinema-watching experiences should hopefully now improve markedly, although I am hugely self-conscious about wearing them. :s

Hello

Telf said I should say hello, so hi y'all

I'm James, more commonly known as Jimmeh

(did anyone else think that sounded a bit like "Life of Brian" - "Brian that is called Brian"?)

40bn

So it looks like Putin's worth 40bn (seen in this morning's guardian). Not bad for government work, as they say.

When i read things like this about people I always wonder, why don't you just retire. Surely there's some figure where you think 'that's probably enough for me'. If I had 40bn, I'd be off on my island with large comfy home cinema and spend my days cruising around, playing games and watching films.

But i guess the fact I would do this is probably why I'll never make 40bn, and the fact Putin will keep busy till he dies is the reason he is.

Filmography

As promised this morning, these are the films I saw at the cinema in 2007 in approximately the order I saw them. I used this list to construct them, and the final set seems strangely small, so it's possible I have missed some out. Let me know if you spot any and I'll add them in.

The films are all listed as having had their UK cinema release in 2007, but two of them I technically saw on DVD. I tried to keep the comment under 25 words for each one, and think I pulled it off pretty well:

Rocky Balboa
I probably missed something through not having seen the other films, but this never felt exciting or interesting. 4/10

Blood Diamond
Leo is great and apart from a couple of silly action scenes, the whole thing hangs together well. 9/10

Hot Fuzz
Good but not great. Some funny moments, but loses something by having an accomplished protagonist. 6/10

The Illusionist
Entertaining story: more down-to-earth than the Prestige, but without the darkness of that film. 7/10

300
Brilliant comic-book epic. Allow yourself along for the ride and it's exhilarating stuff. 9/10

Blades Of Glory
Sub-par Ferrell vehicle. Some good jokes, but I just didn't care about any of the characters. 4/10

Shooter
Wahlberg is great, and the first hour is slick and exciting. Then Danny Glover comes along. 3/10

This Is England
Dark and gritty - Stephen Graham is brilliant and its an interesting take on the issues involved. 8/10

Spider-Man 3
Disappointingly unfocused. Doesn't know whether it's trying to be slapstick or dark.
4/10

Transformers
Great visuals, but I just don't care about wise-cracking robots falling over. 4/10

Conversations With Other Women
Funny and touching. Very original presentation pulled off well. A nice package that doesn't stretch itself. 8/10

Magicians
Distressingly unfunny. They can do so much better and it hurts to see them fail. 3/10

Zodiac
Great moody and oppressive thriller. Lags towards the end, but just about keeps us interested. 8/10

Pirates Of The Caribbean 3: At World's End
Depp is great. Most of the rest is forgettable. Too much random mythology pulled out of nowhere. 5/10

Shrek The Third
Terrible in comparison to its forebears. Has some funny moments, but no focus. 4/10

Die Hard 4.0
Enjoyable in a brain-switched-off kind of way. Less about the personalities and more about the effects, which is a pity. 5/10

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
Meh. 5/10

The Simpsons Movie
Very funny. Expansive storyline and the return of Hank Scorpio (in all but name). 8/10

The Bourne Ultimatum
Fantastically taut thriller. Great set-pieces and manages to stay the right side of believeable. Just. 9/10

Knocked Up
Funny, and at least tries to do more than just feed the audience one liners. 7/10

Atonement
Great acting and a very moving story thoroughly well told. 9/10

Run, Fat Boy, Run
Sappy and stupid. Has one funny scene, and spends the rest of the time firmly on the rom-com-rails. 3/10

Michael Clayton
Great thriller. George Clooney and Tom Wilkinson are excellent and the script manages to guide us easily through a complex story. 9/10

Day Watch (Dnevnoi Dozor)
Exciting and strange. Made me want to read the books. 7/10

The Counterfeiters
Slow, but with a great script. Makes you question whether you could do the right thing. 8/10

Rendition
Dark story with twists that come together really well. Makes you question whether you could do the right thing. 8/10

Lions For Lambs
Slow moving but rewarding. Glossy rather than passionate. Makes you question whether there even is a right thing to do. 8/10

American Gangster
Interesting biopic with great action scenes. Ending feels rushed, but lead performances are great. 8/10

Rescue Dawn
Let down by poor special effects and cringeworthy ending, but the whole middle section is brilliantly done. 7/10

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Very slow, but builds tension brilliantly. Affleck almost outshines Pitt, and the attention to detail sells it. 9/10

We Own The Night
Good in patches, but loses its way. There's a dark, interesting film there somewhere, but it's not on the screen. 6/10

I am Legend
Not an awful premise, but neither psychological nor horrifying, and hence not really interesting or exciting. 6/10

And, for completeness, the ones I wanted to see but never got around to:
Apocalypto, The Last King Of Scotland, The Pursuit of Happyness, Smokin' Aces, Babel, The Good Shepherd, Letters From Iwo Jima, The Number 23, Amazing Grace, Sunshine, Alpha Dog,
Fracture, Fast Food Nation, 28 Weeks Later, Ocean's Thirteen, Seraphim Falls, Breach, 3:10 To Yuma, Shoot 'Em Up, The Brave One, Control, The Kingdom, Stardust, Eastern Promises, Sicko, The Lookout, Bug, Into The Wild, The Darjeeling Limited, Sleuth, The Golden Compass, The Killing of John Lennon, Youth Without Youth.

And one that failed to come out altogether:
Grindhouse
(But that's a rant for another day...)

Next year's big thing(s)

Just a quick post to link to this awesome list of upcoming films. I'd heard of most of the major releases, but a large number of the ones I hadn't heard of sound very exciting. At some point I want to try and do a round up of quick one-line reviews of 2007 films, assuming I can remember a large enough list of the ones I've seen to make it worthwhile. Anyway, enjoy the link.

Traditionally festive

There's a lot of stuff about traditions that annoys me. Not in a huge, stressed-out, ranty way, but just in a way that needles me occasionally, and this time of year has a lot of traditions wrapped around it.

A colleague of mine at work told me last year that him and his wife don't give each other Christmas presents or birthday presents, and even asked people not to give them wedding presents when they got married. Instead, they try to give each other surprise presents throughout the year. There is no pressure to try and think of something for someone else as a particular date approaches, but when that perfect idea comes along, there's no need to store it away for months and hope that it's still relevant later in the year.

Clearly this kind of approach would be difficult to integrate into society (I'm not sure it would work as an explanation as to why you failed to bring a present to a friend's wedding), but as a guiding principle, it seems to me to be much more practical and interesting than the current social norm. In general, I don't mind the whole present-giving side of Christmas (and, indeed, birthdays), since the next best thing to people giving each other presents spontaneously (you know, out of kindness) is to force them to do it through social blackmail. However, I do find the whole process of wrapping and presenting gifts to be thoroughly annoying.

For children, I can accept, it probably increases the excitement on the day to have a huge pile of mysteries to sift through, each with a cryptic label on to be deciphered, but in other situations, as we grow older, I find the whole business to be bizarre and annoying. I see no reason why it helps anyone for me to spend time and money wrapping up presents five minutes before they're going to be opened. If it is the desire to keep the item a mystery, then I'm quite happy to hide it beforehand, and do a little introduction for it, or present it in a bag or pretty much anything that doesn't cause me to spend ever increasing amounts on gaudy paper that will be torn up and never be used again. If it comes down to building excitement about a present, though I feel like that's the wrong way to go with the whole thing. If the present is a good one, something the person will appreciate and cherish, then no decorative packaging is needed, and if it is not something the person particularly wants, then hiding it away in a promising looking package is just a recipe for disappointment. Ultimately, I would much rather a friend quietly gave me something that they had spotted and thought I would appreciate than sit in a circle with any number of distant family members, unwrapping socks and library books and whatever DVD was being particularly well marketed at the time.

Cards get me in a similar way - I have nothing against them in principal, as long as the person sending them has thought about what they are doing and why they are doing it. Nothing seems more bizarre to me than a huge number of people sending identical cards to everyone in their phone book with their names at the bottom and the recipient's at the top. Maybe there will be a variation in the picture or the pre-printed message inside, but there's no real thought or care put into it. If you really do want to communicate with someone, then send them a letter or call them and arrange to meet up, and if you don't really want to communicate with them, then don't send anything. It seems as though Christmas card lists are like the social networking 'friends lists' of the pre-internet age. It doesn't matter that you haven't spoken to these people for 7 years and that you never have any contact with them other than through the annual charity-shop card; they need to be on your list and you on theirs, almost as a surreptitious ego-boosting exercise, as though your presence on people's card lists is required evidence that you are not an outcast.

I think most of the above translates pretty well on to birthday cards too - I see no real point in giving someone a birthday card unless you have something interesting to say in it. I have received (and given) a large number of cards over the years that have simply been the recipient's name, my name and a short generic greeting. Looking back on them, I don't begrudge the people who gave me these cards, and I don't regret giving out my own, but ultimately, it is as though those cards hadn't been given. I don't remember them (except in a general sense) and I haven't kept them, so there really is nothing to say that they ever existed. What I do have is a (by no means exhaustive) collection of letters and cards that I kept because I felt that real effort had been put into them, and I would look back on them in the future as something valuable. And in general, this has been the case. I wish I had kept more, but the ones that I have kept have given me a lot of happiness when I re-read them.

I feel I should clarify a little bit - I don't think that people are idiots for sending cards out, and I know people feel pride and happiness when they see a wall full of cards wishing them a happy birthday or Christmas. But I am suggesting that I think there are more meaningful things you can send to people you care about, and that perhaps you shouldn't be sending cards to people you don't care about. Not because they don't deserve that happiness, but because in reality, your card is at best a momentary distraction and at worst a dishonest message.

I compared Christmas card lists to social networking friend lists above, and in some ways there are parallels with birthday cards. If someone I know on facebook has a birthday, I feel odd just posting 'Happy Birthday' on their wall. If it is someone I count as a friend, then that feels too little, and I'll try and post something longer, or write them a message or give them a text or a ring and try and start a conversation. If I don't really know them that well (an old friend from school, or a mutual acquaintance) then I will tend not to send anything. Not because I don't hope they have a happy birthday (that, presumably, should be a given), but because I don't have anything more interesting to say, and it feels weird to simply present this public appearance of a closeness that is clearly not there.

Facebook communication (and social network communication in general) is a whole other post for a whole other time, however, so I think I'll leave it there, as I've rambled on for far too long already. There are other tradition-type things that annoy me, though, so tune in next week to hear me complain about decorations, Christmas dinner and Jesus.

:P

Linky update

I've been kinda busy for a couple of days, so haven't posted anything. Which is not to say I haven't wanted to - leaving the new boy out on his own like we have is kinda cruel, but he's doing a fine job so far.

I thought, in lieu of a longer, more rambling, more interesting, post, I'd briefly put down the highlights of the last week or so of my del.icio.us links:

This is funny, and nicely context-free.

This is very sad news, though taken very well by him.

This is pretty interesting, and should probably be taken with a pinch of salt.

This is some awesome-stylish art.

This is a great web-security article. Pretty long, though.

I want to do an article about user generated content at some point, and start doing some movie reviews. But not now. For now, I must go to the quiz. Wish me luck.