Mood: Sick and tired

Outlook: Blah

Inventor of 'swarming robots' wins prize
A 30-year old graduate student at MIT has won a prize for developing robot behaviour modelled on ant cooperation. His robots are designed to work together, passing information back and forth toward completing a common goal. See here >>

Watching Equilibrium
Kelvin and I watched the fun and cheesy action SFer 'Equilibrium' just now. Picture "The Matrix" with a quarter of the budget and ten times the silliness and you have a rental you'll laugh through. Enjoyable cheesy concept, over-the-top stunts and a story ripped from half a dozen Orwellian dystopias. I'll write more later as it's worth checking out.

MIT works on nano-battle dress
Sexy big ticket items like fighter planes and aircraft carriers may get more attention from military budgeters but soldiers on the ground want to see some advancements in battle dress technology. A group of MIT researchers are doing just that, looking into ways nanotechnology can be used to help soldiers feel more comfortable, detect and protect against threats, and camouflage better. See here >>

Mr. Rogers dies
I wasn't into Mr. Rogers. In Canada we had Mr. Rogers and we also had Mr. Dressup (Ernie Coombs). I never keyed into Mr. Rogers because I was suspicious of his zen like state of do-nothing. He wore the same clothes, he came into the house and left the house every day. He was very non-threatening. I suppose that's why children liked him.

Definitions: 'The Grand Guignol'
This is a term that I hadn't really bothered to define for myself until recently. So, for everyone else's edification, this is the Grand Guignol.

Loosely, when a film is called a Grand Guignol it means that it is formed around a shocking scene, concept or set piece that dominates it with its grotesque nature. The term comes from popular Paris theatre where people went to see stories with lots of blood, sacrilege and sex. In other words, pulp horror. The short plays usually had an element of gore and had storylines that could involve savage murder, rape, torture and irreligiosity. The real Théâtre du Grand Guignol was a latter day, every day 'horror film' using cheap gross out effects to stun the audience into fainting or throwing up. It lasted 65 years until it was closed in 1962, a victim of filmed entertainment. The Grand Guignol itself was said to have filled the gap left by the termination of public executions in France.

Today, a film compared to the Grand Guignol has more than just the elements of horror, it is said to have a quality that draws an audience in to see a spectacle of shocking nature whether this is expressed in its scale or depth of imagination. It also may have the elements of a play itself where characters may be trapped as a captive audience, unable to get away from events that are played out from a plan concocted by the villain.

A good modern example is "Silence of the Lambs" which contains a sequence in which the brilliant psychopath Hannibal Lecter has planned an escape from his supposedly maximum security cell by murdering his guards and then displaying them in a fashion designed to shock their rescuers into acting a certain way.

The Grand Guignol as an actual theatre in history is portrayed in the adaptation of Anne Rice's "Interview with a Vampire" in which vampires control the theatre and in plain view feed upon a victim before an audience who are entertained, believing that it is all a play.

Sources:http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_072.html, http://www.thrillpeddlers.com/

'The Axis of Weasel'
As the drums of war continue to sound, right wing 'news sources' like News Max are thriving in an atmosphere of invective against what they perceive as America's enemies. A site like this stretches the boundaries of journalism with quite bare bias that aims itself at any opposition to Bush's drive for war against Iraq. For example, this page capture for Newsmax.com calls protesters in Munich "Hitler's children" and suggests that Germany and France wants Iraq to attack Turkey. Lest you think that page was doctored in any way, go look at Newsmax right now.

Meanwhile more inflammatory news is spouted daily by Fox News, which is headed by Bush crony, Roger Ailes. Today, there's the fear propaganda: Iraqi Drones May Target U.S. Cities which dredges up an item from October but only now cited in which Powell and Bush voice their fears that Iraq was experimenting with drone planes that could be fitted with biological weapons. The article then weakly tries to connect this with the possibility that Iraqi agents could now be in the U.S. planning to use them based upon the supposition of anonymous 'sources' in the defense community. I really hope that the faculties of readers of this type of unbalanced fear propaganda are sound enough to detect the BS in such an article.

The blood libel #54325: 'do they eat babies in China?':

Asian people will eat anything

This is a public service net innoculation. This scary website was posted on the Sk8 Jesus forum I frequent today (warning, shocking photos). It's an alarming expose on what appears to be the practise of taking aborted foetuses and then serving it up to Asian people as a delicacy. Of course, it is a fake.

The photos are from an art exhibit in China by Zhu Yu that was meant to shock people. It was supposed to be a comment on how the flesh is treated and whether or not people put too much or not enough value on flesh when it is dead. It is open to debate whether or not the artist actually ate human flesh, though commentators state rightly that if he did, he would be in jail for it no matter what country he exhibited from. Unfortunately, that material was taken and altered through who knows how many generations of spin to create a blood libel against assorted Asian cultures.

I say assorted because there are different versions of this abortion as food libel that calls it first Chinese, then Taiwanese, then Japanese. The writing in the email that is presented in the original page is Korean. The terrible thing about the blood libel is that it can be pinned on any convenient culture that the author is wishing to spread lies about. The longstanding blood libel is that Jews kidnap and eat or sacrifice babies; a libel that has existed since Christians hated Jews. The horrible thing about this version is that there is seeming authenticity because of the photos. It conveniently fits the author's phobias of Asian culture and his own anti-abortion stand.

I have a weird viewpoint on this whole affair. I was offended then amused. How you look at it depends upon how you treat information on the net. I think it is just a microscopic part of a net melange that people can sieve through like baleen whales swimming through clouds of krill. Eventually you get something stuck in your teeth you chew over a while and then spit out. As for the original thread, after it was suitably debunked, I used my moderator's privilege and closed it.

Apologies to anyone who was shocked or offended by my forward, by the way.

Shooting a Filipino wedding

Also handed out his business cards

I helped out Dylan Couper at Pyroglyph Films with our first wedding shoot yesterday. Very interesting experience. We both shot around three tapes each (60 minutes each) and thank god it will be Dylan editing it. The wedding was an interesting Catholic Filipino wedding and reception. The ceremony was nice and we had to shoot certain parts twice (yes, Dylan asked the wedding party to do it twice) to get the shots we needed. At the reception, we got to witness something called the 'prosperity dance' in which people get to dance with either the bride and the groom if they pin money, cheques, and in one case, an IOU, to the bride or groom's clothes. All in all, a great learning experience. You can also see the business card that I designed for Dylan based upon his input and that of his fiancee, Dawn, that we handed out to anyone who asked.

Thanks Iain Brown
Yay for the Brits! Buddy Iain found me the Chretien piccie I was missing. Click here to see it. >>

Watching Zhang Yimou's 'Hero'
I availed myself of a Bit Torrent link to catch a preview of Zhang Yimou's martial arts epic "Hero". No subtitles and not a great transfer but it looks like a great one to catch on DVD or theatre when either make their way to North America. 'Hero' is up for Best Foreign Picture at the Oscars and based upon cinematography alone, it could be a winner. On first glance, a lot of influence from Kurosawa. Lovely, lovely imagery, a collaboration between the director Yimou and his cinematographer, the peerless Christopher Doyle.

Zhang Yimou was probably my favourite director of the late eighties to early nineties when he put out such gorgeous films as "Ju Duo", "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Red Sorghum". A lot of the solid colours in the imagery that symbolize mood and character are due to his own philosophy. You can directly see the connection between his earlier work in "Ju Duo" with the faces through silk, the tall columns with the same set ups in "Hero".

Chris Doyle is one of the most sought after directors of photography after his work with Wong Kar Wai in "In the Mood for Love" among many dozens of excellent, glowing films. Doyle has had a very interesting career in that he is an Australian who speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese and has filmed mostly for Asian directors.

I am critical of some elements of the film but I won't air them here until I've actually seen a proper version either on DVD or on the screen. Unfortunately, it looks like "Hero" won't make it to North America until later this year. There was some controversy over why it was screened for eligibility for Best Foreign Film (a handful of showings) when some believe it could have been opened much wider and had more of a chance for Best Picture following on the success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

On the Vancouver plebicite in favour of the Winter 2010 games
Yesterday, 64% of voting Vancouverrites, including myself, voted in favour of supporting a bid for the 2010 Winter Olympic games. 46% of eligible voters participated. I was impressed by the numbers turning out when I went to the local polling station.

Why did I vote yes? Partly, it's because of the line of work I'm in now and what I could be doing in seven years. Right now I work for a company that is a friend of the bid. You can see the banner I created for the Winter2010 bid organization on this page. In seven years, I may not be working for the same company but I may be doing similar work, perhaps more video oriented which would be very much impacted by whether or not Vancouver gains the Olympic games. So, from a purely self-interested viewpoint, I had to voice my support.

I wasn't particularly swayed by arguments that declared that an Olympic games would transform a city for better or for worse. After all, Sarajevo had the Winter games and Calgary is still Calgary despite having had one of the most successful past games. I decided that if I couldn't see myself at 40 being in a position to benefit from the increased exposure that Vancouver would receive during the games, then I was putting down my chances for doing anything with my life in seven years.

Prime Pugilist: Jean Chretien

Vancouver New Music
At lunchtime I had the pleasure of encountering a performance by a loose association of traditional and new musicians who go under the label 'Vancouver New Music'. Not really a band, just a wide array of musicians who play a variety of instruments who come together to jam. This particular group had a clarinet, electric guitar, some Vietnamese stringed instrument and a guy running a sampler board. They were playing a soundscape akin to what you might hear on a Godspeed You Black Emperor! or A Silver White Zion album. Find out more about this association here. >>

Hockey rant courtesy of Paul Kariya
I haven't posted anything on hockey since the Canucks were turfed from the first round of the playoffs last year. It's coming around again and Vancouver is doing well this year, putting together their first solid season of hockey since the early 90s. Since I cut off my cable, I've only been able to follow them on the radio or the odd times when I can see it at work or at a party.

Trying to work free from behind the net

However much I'm in love with the way the Canucks are doing, I always felt that there was something wrong with the way the game is played every time I watched it. Finally, I found this article where Paul Kariya from the Mighty Ducks (and Vancouver native) identified the problem in a way I couldn't figure out.

From his viewpoint as an elite scorer, the decision by the NHL to make more room behind the net didn't make sense if the goal was to create more scoring chances. Why make room in a place where you can't possibly score from? (Sure, Gretzky loved to play from behind the net, but he was an exception) What it has created is the growth of a cycling game where the players try to get free from behind the net by endlessly turning over the puck until a forward can get free to get to the front of the net. And the cycling game is boring except from a technical standpoint. What fans want to see are pretty passing plays and rushes to the front of the net. On the other hand, moving the net back would create space in front. Anyway, I never really heard it said that way and it makes perfect sense now.