(identity 'myron)

Thu, 22 Jun 2006

Seattle [/misc]

Went to Seattle on the weekend and took some photos. They're pretty crappy, but hey at least I got a humourous shot:

// posted at 21:34. permalink   comments

Tue, 30 May 2006

The Lyrebird [/misc]

Once a blue moon there's actually something good on TV, and a few months ago, I happened to catch three minutes of some show about birds. The program host was talking about a bird that constructs mating calls by mimicking other bird calls... or really, any sound it's heard before. And so they go on to show one specimen that starts by reproducing first a few bird calls, then the sounds of a camera shutter, the sounds of a car alarm, and finally the sound of chainsaws. Words don't do it justice, though, and thankfully for us, it's on youtube.

It's one of those rare moments, a brief look in the mirror of sorts. Not to be missed.

// posted at 21:27. permalink   comments

Sat, 22 Apr 2006

Silent Hill [/misc]

Went to see Silent Hill last night. It wasn't all that it could have been, but it didn't suck either. It had its laughably bad moments but also some terrific horror scenes that kept me from sleeping soundly through the night. For a good primer on the series, see the wikipedia entry.

So let's start with the good. What really stood out to me were scenes they lifted almost verbatim from the video game. Watching these played out with live actors was pretty neat, especially given that the game came out in the pixelicious days of the original playstation. Apart from the obvious scenes, though, a lot of other details and allusions to the game were thrown in ranging from camera angles to obscure references like when Cybil Bennett scratches an area behind her neck. Throughout the movie, you could tell the people behind the production knew and liked the game a fair bit, making the whole thing feel rightly like it was paying homage to the series.

This leads to what the movie really has going for it: the visuals. Camera angles, details on monsters and the town as it transforms from a misty ghost town to a bloody, rusty mess—all of it was visually spectacular and will leave you with disturbing images you won't easily forget. What's even better was that they achieved this without resorting to gore (though where there are gory scenes, holy moly are they gory!). Hence they managed to build up a certain amount of fear of the darkness that the game is so famed for.

So what went wrong? It wasn't scary enough. They screwed up the pacing of the movie and dissipated a lot of tension with crappy dialogue or useless cut-scenes of the husband outside in the real world. The original game let you fall back into your comfort zone by switching to the more benign, misty version of Silent Hill which is more than enough of a reprieve. A lot of times throughout the movie, they would build up to a certain level of fear only to undo it moments later by switching away to another scenario.

What's more disappointing, though, is that the whole aural aspect of the games was missing. The original used sound to incredible effect in terrorizing the player with what they thought would be out there behind the next door, beyond the fog or just creeping into the light of your flashlight. There's no feelings of anxiety when what you hear, you also see at the same time. Relying too much on the visual aspect as the movie did removes much of the psychological horror that's become the hallmark of the games.

Which leads in to the other fault I found with the movie, that it's too obvious. There's one 5 minute grainy film-reel style scene near the end that explains everything, removing any feeling of mystery and intrigue into what's really going on in the town. The game made you work a lot harder for knowledge and even rewarded you by tailoring the many endings according to what you paid attention to and what you neglected in the game. And even then, they left a lot up for interpretation, giving the games a lot more depth, and that's without even going into the Twin Peaks-esque surrealism and subplots that the first game played around with.

With all that said, I still liked the movie. Even with all its faults, it's a lot smarter and scarier than what passes for horror nowadays.

// posted at 11:10. permalink   comments

Sat, 10 Sep 2005

The Prisoner [/misc]

I grabbed the entire seventeen episode set of the 1967 TV show, The Prisoner, recently and even after having only watched up to episode six, it's easily one of my favourite TV shows of all time. For those who aren't familiar with it, see the Wikipedia entry for a synopsis.

Chock full of witty dialogue, it's a reminder that TV shows can be entertaining and intelligent at the same time. This is true despite its age. And even though it involves use of technology, it doesn't look so dated that it's distracting. The only time I really let out a chuckle was in "A, B and C", where Number 2 is speaking into a giant red telephone. More surreal than outdated though.

In any case, this is a show well worth watching, even if only to see the source of all those cultural references made in movies and TV shows like The Matrix, Simpsons, and The Truman Show. The acting is excellent, each episode is thought provoking, and overall, I have yet to see any show tackle questions of identity and society quite like this one does.

// posted at 10:15. permalink   comments

Mon, 11 Jul 2005

Two Short Movie Reviews [/misc]

Thought I'd write a bit about two movies I saw recently. I saw Fantastic Four Saturday night and I liked it, despite the crappy reviews it's getting. So long as you don't take the movie too seriously, it's worth the $11. The script gets cheesy at times, sure, but it's light-hearted fun. At times, it's so cheesy that it becomes unintentionally funny, but it provides for a good laugh and it adds to the appeal, I think, intentional or not.

My other recently seen movie is Land of the Dead. I really like zombie movies because they bring together two great plot drivers, plague and horror. Plagues in fiction are one of the best occasions to showcase the worst sides of humanity, whereas horror makes sure you never stay comfortable with what you're watching. George Romero never shied away from either aspect with his social commentary meets gore-fest movies of the past and for the most part, this latest installment does much of the same. This time around, zombies vs humans represents a kind of class struggle with each looking to make their place in the world. The one thing I didn't like was the ending. It was too optimistic and happy for my liking. Still a thumbs up though, for both movies. They both coulda been better, but oh well.

// posted at 08:59. permalink   comments

Wed, 29 Jun 2005

CBC Radio 3 [/misc]

Seeing as Apple just released their podcasting-aware version of iTunes, I thought I'd put in a word for CBC Radio 3 and their podcast. It's really great stuff and their magazine archives are full of good music too. I've had more CD purchases from listening to them than from any other sources combined over the last few years. And since it's independent music, there's less guilt in actually paying for it.

// posted at 00:13. permalink   comments

Sat, 18 Jun 2005

Sweet Marie [/misc]

Saw this ad on the morning news and thought the concept was kinda neat. It doesn't really fit the product it's selling all that well, though. It seems better suited for a music video than a commercial....

// posted at 13:43. permalink   comments

Tue, 10 May 2005

Gay Pheromones [/misc]

To add more context for the debate on same-sex marriage, now totally displaced by the political circus that is our government, new research on sexual orientation and the brain shows not only that homosexual men's brains respond differently from heterosexuals, but that the pheromones and body odour they emit are also different:

[W]hen confronted by a chemical from testosterone, the male hormone, portions of the brains active in sexual activity were activated in straight women and in gay men, but not in straight men, the researchers found.

The response in gay men and straight women was concentrated in the hypothalamus with a maximum in the preoptic area that is active in hormonal and sensory responses necessary for sexual behavior, the researchers said.

Savic said the group is also doing a study involving homosexual women but those results are not yet complete.

In a separate study looking at people's response to the body odors of others, researchers in Philadelphia found sharp differences between gay and straight men and women.

"Our findings support the contention that gender preference has a biological component that is reflected in both the production of different body odors and in the perception of and response to body odors," said neuroscientist Charles Wysocki, who led the study.

So what's the big deal? Many opponents of same-sex marriage base their arguments on the assumption that homosexuality is learned behaviour done by choice. Now that's not so easy to argue unless you reason that brain responses to smells and the smells a person emits are also different by choice. Take the learned behaviour assumption away and most points against same-sex marriage are moot.

// posted at 09:17. permalink   comments

Thu, 28 Apr 2005

The Power of Names [/misc]

I think it's an old folk belief that if you posess someone's name, you also have power over them. Has anyone noticed that this is taking on a whole new range of meaning with the rise of the Internet? Almost on instinct now, I've noticed both me and my friend google people's names the second we learn of them. Sure, not everyone has a strong digital presence, but I've had a success rate of maybe 90% or so. So here we are, able to dig information up on people before they ever offer it to us in person, just by googling their names....

// posted at 10:14. permalink   comments

Tue, 26 Apr 2005

Holding Hands [/misc]

Hey if you're confused about seeing President Bush walking around with the Saudi Prince holding his hand, I believe it's Arab custom for friendship. It's no reason to freak out.

// posted at 09:46. permalink   comments

Quotes and Punctuation [/misc]

Came across this blog entry that settles an old dispute I had about quotation marks and where added punctuation marks belong. It turns out that, in American English at least, you can insert periods or commas before a closing quotation mark. However, all other kinds of punctuation have to come after the quote. This makes sense because if you read a lot, this probably pops out at you as much as it does to me:

This is an example of the "chilling effect;" there are others.

Ew. On the other hand, British style leaves all added punctuation marks outside the quotation marks. It's quite logical since it avoids modifying the quote. It just looks funnier to our eyes, or mine at least, because most books printed here follow American style.

Call it some kind of a Canadian compromise, but I've always used a mix of the two styles depending on what type of quote it is. If it's a direct quote, say of someone speaking, I use American style but if it's just a fragment, then I use British style:

She said, "Bite me."

This is an example of the "chilling effect".

// posted at 09:31. permalink   comments

Wed, 02 Feb 2005

American Rhetoric [/misc]

Was googling a few quotes recently and I stumbled on American Rhetoric, a treasure trove of great American speeches. This includes a few of the ones I've commented on before, including a speech from the movie, Scent of a Woman and the famous real-life speech of RFK on the assassination of MLK.

Anyway, well worth a look as it includes full-length audio recordings for most of its speeches along with an interesting top 100 speeches list.

// posted at 10:27. permalink   comments