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Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Thoughts on Avatar
So Swiss movie theatres have a slightly evil habit of having a 15 minute break in the middle of every movie. It's the cinema's way of taping you on the shoulder and saying: "Stop! Don't get too immersed! It's only a movie. Perhaps you should take a breather and go out and BUY some ICE CREAM." I can perhaps forgive them for a break in the case of Avatar, since the movie is longer than the 30-year war.
Another terrible part of the break is the inevitable question that your movie-going neighbour asks: "So... what do you think of the film so far?" For a plot or character driven movie, I hate this question. No: I do not want to judge a film until it has finished; I don't want to articulate my half-formed thoughts on the movie until it's over.
Not so for Avatar though. The first half is an aesthetic experience and the mid-film review a simple emotional reaction: the movie is just beautiful. The 3D is stunning and used to exquisite effect creating a magical and completely immersive world. Some of the scenes literally brought tears to my eyes.
Parts of the world reminded me of underwater seascapes seen whilst diving. The most obvious being the jellyfish/tree-seeds. The spiral plants that retract when you touch them also exist in tropical waters, unfortunately the real ones are only 1-2cm in size, not 1-2m. I guess the underwater inspiration shouldn't come as too much of a surprise since James Cameron has an obsession with water and the undersea world.
After the break came the second half of the movie.
It's as if the writers gave up and handed the unfinished script to a couple of teenagers along with a book of movie clichés. The remainder of the movie lacked the slightest hint of originality. The movie lost me from the moment that Jakesully fulfils his destiny by harnessing the beast-that-has-only-seldom-been-tamed and uniting the tribes that have only once-before-been-united. The gung-ho cry "This is our land!" seemed incongruous with the earlier tone of all-living-creatures-are-precious-gifts.
The first half of the movie talks about the "interconnectivity of all living things". While this makes a nice metaphor or spiritual belief, it loses a lot when it is used in the climax of the film to "kick some ass!" as mother nature opens a can of whoop-ass on the technologically superior humans.
One grating scene has the human characters unironically declaring: "We have to save the Tree of Souls!" This shouldn't come as surprise though as by this stage of the movie we've discovered that all the characters are one dimensional. The scientists are tree-huggers and the military personal all thugs. The exception of course being the protagonist and the pilot who, also stereotypically, fall in love with the beauty of the forest and realise the error of their ways
Avatar has been compared with Dances with Wolves. The key difference for me being that Dances with Wolves ended on a down note with the natives fleeing before the invaders and ultimately to their effective extinction. Avatar would have been a much better film if it had ended on a similar note.
Another parallel that can be drawn is that of the quagmire wars that the United States has gotten itself involved in - Vietnam and Afghanistan. This is another theme that James Cameron has touched on before - he declared that Aliens was Vietnam set in space. The message being that a technologically and military superior force can be brought down by a determined opposition with local knowledge, guerilla tactics and a love of their homeland. But this metaphor doesn't work in the world of Avatar. After some half-felt wincing expressions the commander decides that the bottom-line comes before the lives of the locals. Both Vietnam and Afghanistan could have been won if the invading force decided they didn't care about the lives of the locals instead implemented a scorched earth policy of wiping out the locals.
Another alternative ending that I would have found more satisfying would have been along the lines of Gandhi in India style of passive resistance. Sadly it seems that James Cameron didn't consider himself a strong or daring enough film maker to create such a movie. Perhaps it was just commercial pressures on the studios. The current ending is certainly selling to teenage boys the world around.
In the mid-movie break, I declared that I'd happily see Avatar a second time. A complement formerly reserved for the Lord of the Rings movies. Given the disappointing ending, I think I'll wait for a Director's Cut where hopefully James Cameron decides a complete rewrite of the second half is required.
Another terrible part of the break is the inevitable question that your movie-going neighbour asks: "So... what do you think of the film so far?" For a plot or character driven movie, I hate this question. No: I do not want to judge a film until it has finished; I don't want to articulate my half-formed thoughts on the movie until it's over.
Not so for Avatar though. The first half is an aesthetic experience and the mid-film review a simple emotional reaction: the movie is just beautiful. The 3D is stunning and used to exquisite effect creating a magical and completely immersive world. Some of the scenes literally brought tears to my eyes.
Parts of the world reminded me of underwater seascapes seen whilst diving. The most obvious being the jellyfish/tree-seeds. The spiral plants that retract when you touch them also exist in tropical waters, unfortunately the real ones are only 1-2cm in size, not 1-2m. I guess the underwater inspiration shouldn't come as too much of a surprise since James Cameron has an obsession with water and the undersea world.
After the break came the second half of the movie.
It's as if the writers gave up and handed the unfinished script to a couple of teenagers along with a book of movie clichés. The remainder of the movie lacked the slightest hint of originality. The movie lost me from the moment that Jakesully fulfils his destiny by harnessing the beast-that-has-only-seldom-been-tamed and uniting the tribes that have only once-before-been-united. The gung-ho cry "This is our land!" seemed incongruous with the earlier tone of all-living-creatures-are-precious-gifts.
The first half of the movie talks about the "interconnectivity of all living things". While this makes a nice metaphor or spiritual belief, it loses a lot when it is used in the climax of the film to "kick some ass!" as mother nature opens a can of whoop-ass on the technologically superior humans.
One grating scene has the human characters unironically declaring: "We have to save the Tree of Souls!" This shouldn't come as surprise though as by this stage of the movie we've discovered that all the characters are one dimensional. The scientists are tree-huggers and the military personal all thugs. The exception of course being the protagonist and the pilot who, also stereotypically, fall in love with the beauty of the forest and realise the error of their ways
Avatar has been compared with Dances with Wolves. The key difference for me being that Dances with Wolves ended on a down note with the natives fleeing before the invaders and ultimately to their effective extinction. Avatar would have been a much better film if it had ended on a similar note.
Another parallel that can be drawn is that of the quagmire wars that the United States has gotten itself involved in - Vietnam and Afghanistan. This is another theme that James Cameron has touched on before - he declared that Aliens was Vietnam set in space. The message being that a technologically and military superior force can be brought down by a determined opposition with local knowledge, guerilla tactics and a love of their homeland. But this metaphor doesn't work in the world of Avatar. After some half-felt wincing expressions the commander decides that the bottom-line comes before the lives of the locals. Both Vietnam and Afghanistan could have been won if the invading force decided they didn't care about the lives of the locals instead implemented a scorched earth policy of wiping out the locals.
Another alternative ending that I would have found more satisfying would have been along the lines of Gandhi in India style of passive resistance. Sadly it seems that James Cameron didn't consider himself a strong or daring enough film maker to create such a movie. Perhaps it was just commercial pressures on the studios. The current ending is certainly selling to teenage boys the world around.
In the mid-movie break, I declared that I'd happily see Avatar a second time. A complement formerly reserved for the Lord of the Rings movies. Given the disappointing ending, I think I'll wait for a Director's Cut where hopefully James Cameron decides a complete rewrite of the second half is required.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
iPhone App Review: Lonely Planet Hong Kong City Guide
An electronic travel guide is something I dreamed for years. This is a potential killer-app for the iPhone, but the Lonely Planet Hong Kong Guide shows that we are not there yet. Good content is let down by an unpolished interface.
The biggest selling point for me would have been the map functionality enhanced by the iPhone's built in GPS and compass. Unfortunately, the map function has many frustrations. Firstly,every time you open the map, it forgets the last view you were on. Thus the switching between the text and the map (more on this below) is an exercise in frustration. This wouldn't be too so annoying if the locate-me function was a bit more robust (perhaps a hardware issue). Also annoying is that the map is not searchable by street name. When looking for a street, I ended up grabbing a free paper map as it was bigger and easier to scan over. Also, the map is either incomplete or not up-to-date. My hotel (Novotel on Nathan Road) was not in the guide. I wasn't even to overcome this by adding my own marker to the map: custom waypoints isn't a supported feature.
The text content is great as it is taken directly from Lonely Planet's reputable guide book. Unfortunately it doesn't exploit of any of the advantages of an electronic interface. The index is a list of all the item and sub-items - Getting Started, Background, Neighbours etc. Unfortunately each sub-section is not collapsible, so it takes a minute scrolling to get to down to the section you are interested in. Searching doesn't help either: typing in the name of the region "Kowloon" results in multiple entries all saying "Kowloon" - only by tapping on one and going back can you find out which one is "accommodation" and which one is "eating".
The text pages themselves are then frustratingly devoid of hyperlinks. There are no links from one page to another beyond previous/next buttons. Worst of all, there are almost no links to the map and, as mentioned above, jumping between the map and the text is an exercise in hair-pulling frustration
The price is cheaper than the equivalent dead-tree edition and an electronic version had the potential to be superior to a physical version. Sadly, with the software limitations, I found myself using a paper map and wishing that I'd just shelled out the extra money for the book edition. I'll keep an eye on this class of apps though as the limitations will hopefully be overcome in future versions.
The biggest selling point for me would have been the map functionality enhanced by the iPhone's built in GPS and compass. Unfortunately, the map function has many frustrations. Firstly,every time you open the map, it forgets the last view you were on. Thus the switching between the text and the map (more on this below) is an exercise in frustration. This wouldn't be too so annoying if the locate-me function was a bit more robust (perhaps a hardware issue). Also annoying is that the map is not searchable by street name. When looking for a street, I ended up grabbing a free paper map as it was bigger and easier to scan over. Also, the map is either incomplete or not up-to-date. My hotel (Novotel on Nathan Road) was not in the guide. I wasn't even to overcome this by adding my own marker to the map: custom waypoints isn't a supported feature.
The text content is great as it is taken directly from Lonely Planet's reputable guide book. Unfortunately it doesn't exploit of any of the advantages of an electronic interface. The index is a list of all the item and sub-items - Getting Started, Background, Neighbours etc. Unfortunately each sub-section is not collapsible, so it takes a minute scrolling to get to down to the section you are interested in. Searching doesn't help either: typing in the name of the region "Kowloon" results in multiple entries all saying "Kowloon" - only by tapping on one and going back can you find out which one is "accommodation" and which one is "eating".
The text pages themselves are then frustratingly devoid of hyperlinks. There are no links from one page to another beyond previous/next buttons. Worst of all, there are almost no links to the map and, as mentioned above, jumping between the map and the text is an exercise in hair-pulling frustration
The price is cheaper than the equivalent dead-tree edition and an electronic version had the potential to be superior to a physical version. Sadly, with the software limitations, I found myself using a paper map and wishing that I'd just shelled out the extra money for the book edition. I'll keep an eye on this class of apps though as the limitations will hopefully be overcome in future versions.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
(500) Days of Summer
"(500) Days of Summer" is not standard romantic comedy fare. There are some amusing moments but they are more warm or touching rather than funny.
Zooey Deschanel is a delight as the film's eponymous romantic focus. She brings a light quirkiness to the role that is very appealing. It's easy to see why the protagonist, Tom, falls for her.
Unlike many romantic comedies, the protagonist is a guy and the story is told from his perspective. The film is written by two men and directed by another. The movie has a far from a macho take on romance though.
This may be appropriate as men tend be more romantic than generally given credit for. Contrary to common wisdom, on average, men tend to fall in love faster than women. Also men tend to suffer more after a break-up. I suspect there might be an evolutionary drive for women for fall in love later: women historically (think from hunter-gatherer times up until a few decades ago) bore a huge risk if they fell pregnant to a man not committed to them. From this perspective, not falling in love too quickly is a sensible precautionary measure. Men suffer more after a break-up probably because in losing their partner they typically also lose their best friend. Women tend to have a stronger support network of friends to get them through.
We certainly see Tom suffer through his break-up, despite the support of his friends. Very sweetly, he gets the most support from his baby sister. The wisdom she has gleaned from her high school years helps him work through the end of his relationship.
An appealing part of the movie is that the story is told out of sequence. The memories of the romance are played out in the way that they might be during a break-up - Tom's mind flashes from the romantic beginning to the eventual disintegration of their relationship. Some events are revisited in his memory - romantic moments hold hints of trouble when analysed in retrospect.
I saw a reviewer criticise the movie for not being cynical enough and he objected to the ending's ultimately optimistic view of love. This might say more about the reviewer's love life that it does about the film. For me though, the message of the movie is that even though two people in a partnership will live out the same events, the experience of being in a relationship is ultimately a subjective and individual one. When these experiences diverge too widely, the result can be heart-break.
Zooey Deschanel is a delight as the film's eponymous romantic focus. She brings a light quirkiness to the role that is very appealing. It's easy to see why the protagonist, Tom, falls for her.
Unlike many romantic comedies, the protagonist is a guy and the story is told from his perspective. The film is written by two men and directed by another. The movie has a far from a macho take on romance though.
This may be appropriate as men tend be more romantic than generally given credit for. Contrary to common wisdom, on average, men tend to fall in love faster than women. Also men tend to suffer more after a break-up. I suspect there might be an evolutionary drive for women for fall in love later: women historically (think from hunter-gatherer times up until a few decades ago) bore a huge risk if they fell pregnant to a man not committed to them. From this perspective, not falling in love too quickly is a sensible precautionary measure. Men suffer more after a break-up probably because in losing their partner they typically also lose their best friend. Women tend to have a stronger support network of friends to get them through.
We certainly see Tom suffer through his break-up, despite the support of his friends. Very sweetly, he gets the most support from his baby sister. The wisdom she has gleaned from her high school years helps him work through the end of his relationship.
An appealing part of the movie is that the story is told out of sequence. The memories of the romance are played out in the way that they might be during a break-up - Tom's mind flashes from the romantic beginning to the eventual disintegration of their relationship. Some events are revisited in his memory - romantic moments hold hints of trouble when analysed in retrospect.
I saw a reviewer criticise the movie for not being cynical enough and he objected to the ending's ultimately optimistic view of love. This might say more about the reviewer's love life that it does about the film. For me though, the message of the movie is that even though two people in a partnership will live out the same events, the experience of being in a relationship is ultimately a subjective and individual one. When these experiences diverge too widely, the result can be heart-break.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Meditation Tip #3
Following on from Tip #1 and Tip #2 comes
Meditation Tip #3: Empty your mind
This is the hardest part and probably the key to meditation. The idea is that we rarely give our minds a chance to relax. Sleep will restore our bodies, but even when we are asleep, our minds are still active and dreaming. This is, of course nonsense: we only dream in the shallower stages (REM) of sleep. Most of sleep time is spent in deeper sleep stages when our brains are quite chilled out.
The deeper stages of sleep aren't as well researched because, well, I guess even sleep scientists find dreams darn pretty interesting. It seems though that deep sleep might be a chance for your brain to shut-down and selectively forget some of the stuff that you've processed during the day.
In any case, meditation can replicate some of the tranquil level of brain activity that is experienced in sleep and it can't hurt, so...
The trick - and it's a trick that takes some practice - is to allow thoughts to come up and let them go.
Concentrating on your breathing is a good start (see Tip #2). If you meditate with your eyes open, allow your eyes to soft focus on a point.
Chanting a mantra might work for you. I'm sure there are entire books written documenting the effects of different mantras. For my money, I wouldn't go past "Omm".
One technique that I invented for myself (I'm curious as to whether it has been independently discovered) is "photographing the thoughts". When a thought surfaces, imagine a polaroid photo being taken of it. Visualise the image frozen in front of you. Imagine it passing slowly through my head. As the photo passes through your brain it takes the thought with you. As over thoughts arise, repeat the process.
Meditation Tip #3: Empty your mind
This is the hardest part and probably the key to meditation. The idea is that we rarely give our minds a chance to relax. Sleep will restore our bodies, but even when we are asleep, our minds are still active and dreaming. This is, of course nonsense: we only dream in the shallower stages (REM) of sleep. Most of sleep time is spent in deeper sleep stages when our brains are quite chilled out.
The deeper stages of sleep aren't as well researched because, well, I guess even sleep scientists find dreams darn pretty interesting. It seems though that deep sleep might be a chance for your brain to shut-down and selectively forget some of the stuff that you've processed during the day.
In any case, meditation can replicate some of the tranquil level of brain activity that is experienced in sleep and it can't hurt, so...
The trick - and it's a trick that takes some practice - is to allow thoughts to come up and let them go.
Concentrating on your breathing is a good start (see Tip #2). If you meditate with your eyes open, allow your eyes to soft focus on a point.
Chanting a mantra might work for you. I'm sure there are entire books written documenting the effects of different mantras. For my money, I wouldn't go past "Omm".
One technique that I invented for myself (I'm curious as to whether it has been independently discovered) is "photographing the thoughts". When a thought surfaces, imagine a polaroid photo being taken of it. Visualise the image frozen in front of you. Imagine it passing slowly through my head. As the photo passes through your brain it takes the thought with you. As over thoughts arise, repeat the process.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Flashpacker transport options
There are no trains from Saigon to the highlands of Dalat. The journey involves a 7 hour bus trip which means either be an entire day on the highway, or an overnight trip. The bus company targets local and international tourists, so at least wouldn't be a repeat of my recent bus journey. Still, I wasn't keen to loose an entire day travelling or suffering a unpleasant night with even less sleep than my travel insomnia would allow.
A quick internet search showed two flights a day with Vietnamese Airlines. Since these flights are mainly filled by locals, the prices are reasonable (US$50 one-way) and, better still, can usually be booked at short notice. After a bit of a struggle, I got myself a ticket for a Monday morning flight.
The good news was that the flight would get me in to Dalat at 07:30 for a full-day of motorcycle touring. The bad news was that I'd have to be at the Saigon airport at 05:30. The taxi from the centre to the airport can take an hour and while I had been waking up at 04:00 I was trying to encourage my body clock to stay asleep at that time.
Budget travel guides, both Lonely Planet and online, were silent on hotel options near the airport. An internet search revealed a number of high-end options. I had been staying in budget accommodation for far in Vietnam, but having come to terms with my flashpacker status, I decided to go for it and booked a room online.
The driver stuffs my backpack into the back of his taxi. "Parkroyal Hotel?" he confirms, looking at my backpack and then from my sandals to my grubby T-Shirt. "Vang," I assured him. Yes, a luxury hotel for me tonight please! In the taxi I try to make myself look presentable. I put on my best, or at least cleanest, T-Shirt and take off my bead bracelets. I try brush some of the dirt off my backpack and zip away the shoulder and waist straps. It looks a little bit like a shoulder bag, but really is still just a backpack pretending.. There is nothing I can do about my sandals - the only footwear I have with me are my pair of Tevas.
To try and compensate for my slightly grubby looks, I booked myself in with the title "Doctor Jason Haines" (unfortunately, "Lord" wasn't an option). PhD doctorants can be eccentric can't they? I've worked with academics that wore sandals in far cooler climates than Saigon.
I try to feign confidence as a stroll into the lobby. I've stayed in hotels of this class in Europe and had to pay 3 times as much for the privilege - I could stay here a year if I maxed out my Visa card limit. I give my bag to a porter and present my passport - use two hands in Vietnam - to the receptionist with a "Chao buoi toi (good evening)". I get a friendly welcome, well at least after they've seen my credit card. I'm sure the sideways glance he given me is just in my imagination.
The porter deposits my "bag" in my room and I change for a swim in the indoor pool. Back in the room, I hit the mini-bar. To complete my 1st-world neo-tourist-colonist image, I take a Gin and Tonic ("Keeps away the mosquitos, old boy! Don't want a dose of malaria, what?").
Over the few hours of my stay I spend more money on tips for the porters and the mini-bar than I'd spent on accommodation the previous two nights. The room is both ludicrously cheap by European standards and ludicrously expensive by Vietnamese standards.
"I hope you enjoyed your stay. Thank you Doctor Haines," says the receptionist as I check out. No, thank you!
A quick internet search showed two flights a day with Vietnamese Airlines. Since these flights are mainly filled by locals, the prices are reasonable (US$50 one-way) and, better still, can usually be booked at short notice. After a bit of a struggle, I got myself a ticket for a Monday morning flight.
The good news was that the flight would get me in to Dalat at 07:30 for a full-day of motorcycle touring. The bad news was that I'd have to be at the Saigon airport at 05:30. The taxi from the centre to the airport can take an hour and while I had been waking up at 04:00 I was trying to encourage my body clock to stay asleep at that time.
Budget travel guides, both Lonely Planet and online, were silent on hotel options near the airport. An internet search revealed a number of high-end options. I had been staying in budget accommodation for far in Vietnam, but having come to terms with my flashpacker status, I decided to go for it and booked a room online.
The driver stuffs my backpack into the back of his taxi. "Parkroyal Hotel?" he confirms, looking at my backpack and then from my sandals to my grubby T-Shirt. "Vang," I assured him. Yes, a luxury hotel for me tonight please! In the taxi I try to make myself look presentable. I put on my best, or at least cleanest, T-Shirt and take off my bead bracelets. I try brush some of the dirt off my backpack and zip away the shoulder and waist straps. It looks a little bit like a shoulder bag, but really is still just a backpack pretending.. There is nothing I can do about my sandals - the only footwear I have with me are my pair of Tevas.
To try and compensate for my slightly grubby looks, I booked myself in with the title "Doctor Jason Haines" (unfortunately, "Lord" wasn't an option). PhD doctorants can be eccentric can't they? I've worked with academics that wore sandals in far cooler climates than Saigon.
I try to feign confidence as a stroll into the lobby. I've stayed in hotels of this class in Europe and had to pay 3 times as much for the privilege - I could stay here a year if I maxed out my Visa card limit. I give my bag to a porter and present my passport - use two hands in Vietnam - to the receptionist with a "Chao buoi toi (good evening)". I get a friendly welcome, well at least after they've seen my credit card. I'm sure the sideways glance he given me is just in my imagination.
The porter deposits my "bag" in my room and I change for a swim in the indoor pool. Back in the room, I hit the mini-bar. To complete my 1st-world neo-tourist-colonist image, I take a Gin and Tonic ("Keeps away the mosquitos, old boy! Don't want a dose of malaria, what?").
Over the few hours of my stay I spend more money on tips for the porters and the mini-bar than I'd spent on accommodation the previous two nights. The room is both ludicrously cheap by European standards and ludicrously expensive by Vietnamese standards.
"I hope you enjoyed your stay. Thank you Doctor Haines," says the receptionist as I check out. No, thank you!
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