Oppressed much?

I’m bummed that I didn’t catch this earlier.  Le Cyc sounds like a really cool show.  It’s a multi-media graphic novel opera, staged by a group of musicians who got the idea during a cross-Canada bicycle trip. More specifically,

Le Cyc is the story of a surreal bike-powered world where themes of power imbalance and popular revolution collide with carnivalesque images of dictators whose smart-talking parrots perch on impossibly long mustaches. The hour long multimedia program combines dark humour and political satire in a compelling story that raises questions about how power is peddled in society.The project is a collaborative multimedia spectacle combining graphic novel style illustrations that are projected with a live musical narrative by an ecclectic and original 6-piece orchestra. Nearly 400 hand-painted images by visual artist David Willekes depict the gruesome and whimsical tale of Le Cyc. These images, in the somber tones of Willekes’ chosen media, weak coffee and day-old wine, artistically portray the emotive struggles of individuals who stand up against totalitarianism.

The show just got a great review in The Ontarion, but it looks like future shows will be few and far between. However, a limited run DVD release is planned for the Spring, 2010.

JEG ER FRI! ALLE TENTAMENER ER OVERSTÅTT, OG KLIMAVIS ER FERDIG!

-Woooh, pust dypt inn- I dag hadde jeg mattetentamen, og på slutten var jeg så stressa at jeg kunne føle hjertet mitt dunke i ørene og hele kroppen min skalv. Snakk om å jobbe hardt! Da jeg kom hjem dro jeg rett ut på løpetur, for det blir jo mørkt klokka fire! Siden jeg var så flink bestemte jeg meg for å bare slappe heeeelt av. Det gjør jeg nå ved å se på True Blood, en serie jeg har blitt skikkelig hekta på.  Den handler om vampyrer og sex, for det meste. Jeg anbefaler den virkelig. Hver episode ender sånn at du bare MÅ se den neste! Forresten så vil jeg også ha sånne tøffe hjørnetenner som skyter ut hver gang jeg lukter blod.

Veldig sosete innlegg, I know. Bear with me.

Bill

Apple has voided at least two valid warranties for computer repair, claiming the reason is due to computer owners smoking near their computers. Now, I don’t personally smoke, and never have, but the last I heard, a health-related concern wasn’t a legal reason to void a repair warranty on a piece of hardware. Smoking hasn’t been made illegal yet, so I don’t get what Apple is trying to do here.

They do lie a lot, though. Smallest laptop. No BSOD (even though there is one). No viruses (even though there are). Recent “PC & Mac” commercials even claim Mac has award winning customer support. Well, voiding a legally valid warranty certainly doesn’t sound like customer support, does it? Maybe Apple paid for their award. That happens.

So, if you own an Apple product in need of repair, and you get turned down because you smoke, consider hiring an attorney and suing. Consider going to the news and spreading the word as much as possible. Do not let shady business practices deprive you of ‘award winning’ customer support.

Nintendo has this game, called “Love Plus”, for their DS handheld game console. It’s really nothing special. There have been ‘fake girlfriend’ games available for many years. There are flash-based dating sims online all over the place. There have been various levels of quality in PC-based virtual people and dating sims as well. Apparently Nintendo thinks they can revamp existing cheese and people will buy it like it is innovative gold.

The idea of fake people isn’t new, at all. The idea of dating fake people, is kind of creepy to most people. I can’t even imagine what would bring Nintendo executives to the idea that a man pretending to marry a pretend girlfriend would sell more games, but fraud in business also is not a new practice. They’re saying it’s an “official” wedding. Yeah, really. Has this guy married his keychain digi-pets, too?

For one thing, you cannot marry a fictional character. It isn’t physically possible. For another thing, I highly doubt Nintendo pulled strings to force the Japanese government to legally recognize such a marriage. So, yes, it’s 100% fraud. What’s next, Nintendo? Maybe you can produce a game that has no content, and say you have to use your imagination to play it. Oops. On second thought, I shouldn’t encourage a dishonest mega-corporation with new ways to cheat customers out of their money.

What is it with virtual women, anyway? Why are these idiots so in awe? We had “Eliza” decades ago, an experimental program designed to mimic the behavior of a psychotherapist. Sure, she wasn’t exactly a dating sim, but many a boy would try out his best lines on a copy of the program. I was once such a boy. Of course, I had no intentions of marriage. That would just be creepy.

Nintendo, seriously, if you’re going to try and promote a game title, make it genuinely new. No more bringing back work done by other people. No lies. No cheating. No fraudulent publicity stunts. Just give us quality. Why can’t you do it? Other game companies have no trouble with it. Are you stupid? Lazy? Fat? Just don’t care about working for an honest dime?

If you’re a guy (or girl), and you’re considering a virtual girlfriend (or boyfriend), my advice to you is to go outside and MEET REAL PEOPLE. Sure, real people might cost more to find, and to keep, but in the end, it’s more satisfying when you end up with happiness that didn’t have to be programmed into a workstation by some middle-aged smelly zaibatsu who wouldn’t know real life if it sat on his face and moaned. Trust me, real life is far more creative. Gamers enjoy challenges, and virtual sims offer no such thing. Ignore Nintendo’s hype. Everything they’re doing with this game has been done before. Also, if you score with a real live flesh and blood human being, you might get to do this thing we call having sex. You can’t do that with a Nintendo DS.

We’ve all heard the hype. We’ve all seen the data. But, thanks to a group of hackers who raided British University of East Anglia’s ‘Climatic Research Unit’, there is a strong possibility that there are some dishonest people trying to elevate ‘climate change’ to a threat level beyond fact.

In the hacked data, which was subsequently posted online, hundreds of e-mails and documents which painted a picture of climate change deception, scientists throwing around words which commonly refer to manipulating the data to showcase the results they want the public to see. Despite at least some of the scientists admitting the documents are genuine, the research center claims they can’t say if the stolen information is true. Yeah, convenient that they’re in a position to ‘verify’ or disprove evidence of their own misconduct.

Among some of the most blatant evidence, a leaked e-mail from the research center’s director, Phil Jones, where he suggests that ‘tricks’ are used in respect to the scientific data the center collects and analyzes. He suggests that in compiling data, he was using Mike’s ‘nature trick’ of adding real temperatures to each series for the past 20 years. In his defense, Jones claims that his use of the word trick was meant to refer to clever thinking, rather than deception. Really? Scientists are *SUPPOSED* to include the real data during their research. If Phil Jones thinks this is especially clever, he must have a habit of leaving the data out. I wonder why.

In criminal investigations, it is common to look at motive, means, and opportunity. Scientists automatically have the means and opportunity to manipulate scientific data. In fact, it’s a big part of what they do in science. We look to them for answers. What is this? Why is it happening? What does it mean? The motive is also a rather clear one. They have this idea. It might work, or it might not. They want recognition for their efforts. They want the public to acknowledge their research. They want the world to be abuzz. It serves their interest if the data supports their beliefs. What a coincidence. They happen to control the data.

Now, I am not suggesting that ‘climate change’ doesn’t exist. It is a sound concept, and it is very likely. But, if the scientific community has to alter their findings to support an agenda which is anything less than 100% true, they have failed society, and the world. If we cannot trust them to tell us the answers, how can we come to them with questions? Going ‘green’ is good for everyone. Lying to us to make us do it, not so good.

If it can be verified that scientists are indeed lying about climate change, I doubt they’ll be prosecuted. It is international terrorism. But a lot of acts fit that definition. The media lies to us every hour of every day. Reality TV passes itself as ‘genuine’. We have politicians saying one thing, and doing another. The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. The lies, well, the lies get bigger and bigger. Is ‘climate change’ the modern version of Chicken Little? Who knows. One thing is certain, though. Phil Jones is lying to us. What about, is anyone’s guess.

Please note, hacking into computers is illegal, and it shouldn’t be condoned. However, it is a safe bet, had these hackers not done this, we may have never gotten evidence that suggests that there is more to ‘climate change’ than the scientific community is willing to share with the public. Good job, guys (and/or gals?). Keep it up.

New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV), Nov.18, 2009 -

Paris, November 18, 2009 – The Paris Commercial Court has dealt a set-back to NTDTV’s request to appoint an independent investigator to examine fully Eutelsat’s June 2008 shutdown of NTDTV’s satellite broadcasts to China. In reviewing the court’s decision, the channel’s legal counsel expressed surprise that the judge dismissed the case on technical grounds while ignoring the compelling evidence presented in a report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in which Eutelsat’s Beijing representative admitted NTDTV’s uncensored programming was cut off as a goodwill gesture to the Chinese regime.

NTDTV spokesperson Carrie Hung expressed disappointment that the court’s judgment yesterday did not address, and neither did Eutelsat refute, the RSF recorded evidence demonstrating Eutelsat’s pre-meditated and discriminatory decision to silence NTDTV. “When we presented this same set of evidence to the European Parliament at the beginning of the year, the MEPs found there was sufficient cause to pass a resolution censuring Eutelsat for its actions and calling for an independent investigation into the company’s conduct,” stated Ms. Hung.

Ms. Hung said that NTDTV is confident of its case if its evidence receives a full and fair hearing. She confirmed that the channel will appeal to the next level in the French legal system, in order to seek full accountability and transparency in Eutelsat’s shutdown of the world’s only non-governmental Chinese-language TV broadcast to China.

NTDTV Contact:
Carrie Hung, NTDTV Spokesperson, 917-319-0219, carrie.hung@ntdtv.com

###

About New Tang Dynasty Television

Established in 2001, New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) is a non-profit television broadcaster and the only independent Chinese-language television to broadcast into China. NTDTV is dedicated to providing objective, uncensored news to Chinese residents. As a vital news source, NTDTV reported on the SARS outbreak in China three weeks before Beijing admitted to its existence. NTDTV also reports on environmental and human rights issues in China, generating awareness among Chinese residents important issues their government withholds from them.

- NTDTV

Aldrig förr har man sett så mycket skräp-tv som man gör när man ammar. Stina vaknar oftast två gånger på nätterna. En gång vid två och en gång vid fem. Vid tvåtiden kan man se antingen på The Practice eller Frasier (som iofs inte är skräp!), vid femtiden är det dock andra bullar, repriser av Dawsons Creek! Nostalgi på hög nivå. För någon dag sedan skulle Joey och Pacey “do it for the first time” och Joey hade lite ångest över att det inte är Dawson. Samtidigt går Jen i terapi och vill att psykologen ska ligga med obligatoriska serie-bögen Jack.

Det är sådana intriger, nattspänning på hög nivå.
Dawson Leary, Joey Potter, Pacey Witter, Jen Linley – ni gör mina vakna nätter till ett rent nostalginöje!

Recovery.gov is very innovative. You can go there and track how the economic stimulus dollars are being spent, and how American jobs are being saved and created. Sometimes, out of thin air, it seems. An ABC News report has uncovered in many states there are statistics for non-existent places. Congressional districts that aren’t present in the real world. Not just U.S. states, though. They even use their ‘dodgy’ math in territories which aren’t states.

When confronted, the White House claims it was ‘human error’. Yeah, not like you have an agenda to lie, when promoting your plans, right? Funny thing, though. They’ve already been caught lying, and admitted to it. What’s so different about it, now? When they manipulated data and statistics in the past, they admitted to it, claiming they were just trying to be positive. So, claiming to have created jobs in places that don’t even exist sounds pretty positive to me. One might even say, optimistic. Except, this is our national budget at stake. If you want to lie, do it when the voters aren’t paying for it.

This isn’t the first time the stimulus plan’s math has been put under scrutiny. Not very long ago, there were suggestions that Obama’s claims were flat-out untrue, about how many jobs would be saved or created by the package. Now, I guess it’s easier to manipulate results than actually create the jobs. I know who I probably *WON’T* be voting for next term. When you take my money, and lie about what you did with it, that’s stealing. Of course, it’s easier to say it was human error. I’d hardly expect Barack Obama as President to admit he robbed the treasury and conspired to lie about it.

Stop stalling, Mr. President, and give us the jobs you said you would. No more bogus websites, no more promises. Stop campaigning for re-election, roll up your goddamned sleeves, and fulfill your duty to the voters. Keep lying, and you’ll be losing votes.

So I’ve now seen the one before the one before the last ever David Tennant episode.

And lo, it was remarkable, and worth waiting for.

As I try, and fail, to explain here.

What Would Andrea Zuckermann Do?

If you thought that Zack Morris was the most famous former-teen-heart-throb turned cycling enthusiast, you were wrong.  It turns out that Jason Priestley is going to make a movie about Sam Brown, the 22-year-old Canadian mountain biker who smuggled marijuana into the states, got caught, and then committed suicide in jail.   This comes on the heels of another bicycle movie announcement: David Koepp is directing an action movie about a bicycle messenger.

In related news, I’m going to watch Rad over and over and pretend that nothing is happening.

It has been a long time, since Chris Brown assaulted, bit, and threatened to kill his then-girlfriend Rihanna. Time has passed. Both parties have tried to move past it in whatever ways they feel work best for them.

Sitting here now, I’m compelled to wonder. What has Chris Brown learned? Is there any hope, at all, of him not assaulting a woman in the future? Let’s explore this.

First off, when people make a real mistake, they acknowledge it, atone, and make efforts to not do it again. What has Chris Brown done toward this end? Well, he has acknowledged that he did what Rihanna says he did. He keeps apologizing like Ike Turner, over and over. He’s claimed to be in counseling. But, for the most part, we have no verification that he’s taken any steps to avoid doing the exact same thing again. In fact, almost everything he’s done has been court-ordered, or orchestrated to improve his image.

Next, let us look at his outward sincerity. Does he act like someone who is sorry for what he did? The answer, sadly, is no. He smiles a lot. He cries on cue. He records egotistical songs. He whines about people wanting to see him fail, as though he is unaware of what he’s done to deserve such a public opinion.

If I could ask Chris Brown any question, and him be forced to answer, I would ask him this. What would you have done, had the police not intervened?

Chris Brown still has many supporters. Most of them display the typical “who cares?” attitude. Some of them say Rihanna did something to provoke the attack. Some seem to believe that what he did was something we can forget all about. Really? Any of you have friends who beat, bite, and threaten to murder their girlfriends? I’m hoping that’s a big no. In fact, I can almost guarantee it’s a no, because normal people do not do that. It takes a lot to get rational people to escalate toward that level of physical violence. The only people who build up, quickly and consistently, to that zone, with little provocation, have a lot of problems upstairs. Chris Brown admitted that it was indeed true, so there’s no denying it. No matter how you look at it, if you indeed do, Chris Brown is going to need a lot more than court-sponsored therapy to get better. Since he hasn’t indicated that he is seeking the proper help, I can only assume he is not.

So, whoever is next on his girlfriend list, be very careful. He may kill you, and there is no one on this earth who can professionally say otherwise.

BeBe Wynans, a well-known and respected gospel singer, has been dumped from the Oprah Winfrey show. Not because of anything he’s officially done, though. He’s been charged with pushing his wife. Not convicted. Not found guilty by judge or jury. Simply charged. He hasn’t even had his trial yet. But, forget about formalities, Oprah Winfrey has her ego to protect.

That’s right. She had no problem with him being on the show, and charged with pushing his wife, when he was already on. No, she waited until bloggers started talking about how ridiculous she was for claiming to be against domestic violence, yet having him on her show. So, to prove how flip-floppy of a media whore she is, she dropped him. Can’t have any controversy, can we? No, sir. No alleged sex abuse scandals in our ’school for girls’ franchise. No alleged conspiracy to make that Holocaust book author money for a fraudulent story he made up. Oprah has plenty of skeletons in her closet. Many people know this.

But, for some reason, now she’s trying to desperately control any indication of corruption or fraud. Why now? Wouldn’t it have been better to screen the staff at Oprah’s girls’ school before they allegedly raped students? Wouldn’t it have been better to verify the author’s book was a genuinely true story before marketing it to everyone?

Best of all, what if BeBe Wynans’ wife comes forward, during the trial, and reveals she made the claim up? Or, that it was somehow misinterpreted? What if you have publicly humiliated a famous gospel singer, only to save your own flabby neck, Oprah? Well, I’m guessing that if that happens, you’ll end up trying to capitalize on it with some sort of special show. You’ll get all teary-eyed, and beg BeBe for forgiveness. You’ll claim it was all a big misunderstanding. It will all be 100% bullshit. Because, you’ve already shown the world your face.

You’re in the United States of America, Oprah. We do not condemn people publicly before they’ve had a fair trial. Well, at least the honest and fair people don’t do it. Guess that makes you one of those ‘other’ people, doesn’t it?

Jeg gleder meg til New Moon, den ser så utrolig bra ut! Unnskyld for at jeg er veldig fjortis fangirl nå, det er bare det at den første filmen var mye bedre enn jeg hadde trodd, og den neste ser også bra ut. Wee!

Nå har jeg veldig lyst til å lage pannekaker, selv om jeg fortsatt er mett fra middag. What to do ?

More movie watching than usual this month:

• Twilight (still recovering from that one….)
• Up
• Coraline
• The Nightmare Before Christmas

And one TV failure

• Harper’s Island

This recent article on Esquire got me thinking.  With the world’s young girls and gay men getting all hot and sweaty over Stephenie Meyer’s series of children’s Vampire books (called the Twilight series), there’s a definite dilution happening of one of the horror world’s most insidious creatures.

Not to mention the new TV series Vampire Diaries – brought to you by the producers of Dawson’s Creek – and True Blood where humans and Vampires happily co-exist and even form “meaningful” relationships.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved the True Blood TV series – it really is a fantastic series in the midst of the repetitive, shallow-minded crap that networks continue to renew.

But it concerns me that something as hallowed to the geek world as the creatures of classical horror are being watered down in order to appeal to wider audiences (it’s a worrying trend).

It’s this exact way of thinking that made George Lucas produce the Star Wars prequels the way he did (we love you George but damn they were terrible!) and it’s this exact way of thinking that is taking the richness away from what made geeks love horror, science fiction and comics.

I will concede that this whole “Vampires and other creatures of horror as sexual beings” mindset isn’t new. In fact, Vampires, in particular, have often been portrayed as deeply sexual creatures, which couldn’t be farther from the true nature of these creatures.

REAL Vampires are meant to be vile, scary creatures of the night that have an insatiable appetite for human blood and look nothing like sparkly young magazine models.

I’m talking about the original Vampires, that had no hair, withered genitals and were infected with the disease that made them this way?  I’m talking about the raw, un-sanitised Vampires that movie-maker Guillermo Del Toro depicts in his latest series of books called The Strain.

I’m talking about the Vampires that kill without remorse, true spawn of hell borne out of a covenant with the Devil himself.

Weird, yes, but that’s what makes us geeks, well, geeks.  We’re different, we’re free-thinkers and we like to think that our little “club” is exclusive because it gives us something to feel special about, while the rest of the goes about its business of trying to be the same as everyone else.

Yes, at the end of the day it’s all about business and making lots of money and the best way to do this is to appeal to a wider audience – or as I like to refer to it as “the Lowest Common Denominator”.

But in the process, the people behind this un-geekifying trend are diluting the very things that we love.  They’re transforming these very "different"  things that we love so much into the same, repetitive, conformist, follow-the-crowd, trendy things that are so very much the opposite of what they are meant to be.

Twilight and all the other Dawson’s Creek-inspired works are only cool because we geeks made it cool first to like Vampires.  Remember that.

“America’s Next Top Model”, featuring Tyra Banks pretending she has talent, is going to have contestants pose as “another race” for a photo shoot. Reality television, fake as it is, has never really been any stranger to controversy. But, leave it to ‘brilliant’ people like Tyra Banks to think that painting white people black for money is a good idea, when it has been frowned upon for decades. It is poor taste. Tyra Banks knew this, and knows it now. She’s not above using it to put her name in the media, though. That’s one thing she and the other reality television regulars are good at. Re-using someone else’s bad ideas.

Tyra Banks used to be influential, attractive, and had success. Now she’s just another reality joke trying to get people to take her seriously. Remember the staged polygraph exam where she pretended to idolize Oprah? Face it, Tyra. You’re a ‘primetime’ copy of what used to happen when celebrities got old and boring. Years ago, they would sell hand cream and designer bath towels at 2AM. Now, they get reality television shows, and beg people to throw them a ratings share. It’d almost count as a regular job, except everyone who has one laughs at you.

Hey, Tyra. Why don’t you get back into modeling? Are you too old? A movie? Write a book? Learn to read? Maybe create a talk show? A magazine? Something?