Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The Children of Hurin, by J.R.R. Tolkien

Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of my favorite books of all time, so I had to read this one, even though it didn't get the best reviews.

Tolkien had started writing this book but passed away before he was able to finish it. His son, Christopher, completed it the best way he could and with minimal retouching.

I have to say that I did like the end result, even if it didn't have the scope and breadth of The Lord of the Rings, which it didn't aspire to, given that this was only a self-contained tale, even if it does have some references to the trilogy's wider opus.

I would recommend the book to any Tolkien fan or anyone who likes fantasy tales, but beware the chapter titles, if you can manage it, since they give away what happens in the chapters themselves -- like, this guy goes here, that guy dies, and so on.

That's actually the only gripe I have with the book, since I can't think of a worst type of decision an author could possibly make. Why would you want to give away what is about to happen? It's like telling the punchline before you tell the joke.

And if you read this in audio format, Christopher Lee does an awesome job. You can feel his admiration for Tolkien's work in every word.

Grade: 8

Civil Rights

Because we're all equal.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

How little we know this big, old world

After years of surveying a huge area of pristine rain forest in Asia, scientists reported on their discoveries of over a thousand new species of animals, including one they believed extinct.

From The Telegraph:
The Greater Mekong, which is made up of 600,000 square kilometers of wetlands and rainforest along the Mekong River in Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam and China, is also home to striped rabbits, bright pink millipedes laced with cyanide and a rat that was believed to have become extinct 11 million years ago.

A host of new species has been found in the area, which is so full of life that previously unknown animals and plants have been turning up at a rate of two a week for a decade.

At least 1,068 new species were identified in the Greater Mekong from 1997 to 2007 along with several thousand tiny invertebrates, the Times reports.
[...]
Among the most bizarre to be discovered was a hot-pink, spiny dragon millipede, Desmoxytes purpurosea..

The millipedes have glands that produce cyanide to protect them from predators.

Scientists believe that the shocking-pink colouration is a warning that they would make a fatal snack. "They would do well to heed this warning," concluded a WWF report on the Greater Mekong discoveries.

A huntsman spider, named Heteropoda maxima, measured 30cm across and was found in caves in Laos. It was described as the "most remarkable" of 88 new species of spider located in Laos, Thailand and the Yunnan province of China.
This is truly amazing, and worrisome, if you think of all the rain forest we destroy daily in South America and other areas of the world. Besides their fundamental right to live their lives, countless of these creatures and organisms could deliver cures for our worst diseases, but we might never know it.

As the saying goes...

... a picture is worth a thousands words:

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Shekhar Kapur, the director, envisioned his Queen Elizabeth opus as a trilogy, of which this movie is the second chapter.

I saw the first one back in 1998 and I remember being blown away by it. The story, the acting, the soundtrack, the direction and the technical aspects were amazing.

It was also the first time I saw a movie with Cate Blanchett and I fell in love with her craft on the spot. To this day, she's one of my favorite actresses and I don't think I ever saw a movie in which she didn't do a super good job.

Alas, I cannot be as praiseworthy of Elizabeth: The Golden Age as I am of Elizabeth. Something is missing here. Blanchett turns in an amazing performance, as does the rest of the cast, particularly Geoffrey Rush. Technically, the film is superb and the score by Craig Armstrong and A.R. Rahman, although not as memorable as David Hirschfelder's, is good.

That leaves the direction and the screenplay as the possible culprits for the movie's failure to reach its predecessor's greatness. That being said, I cannot really find much fault in either the script or the direction, so I guess something just didn't work as it was supposed to, but it's hard to pinpoint.

The question that lingers is whether Kapur will be able to direct the third chapter of the trilogy he envisioned, and above all, whether he'll be able to lure back Blanchett for a third time, since she was already weary of appearing in this one. Hopefully the script will be great and the fact that she got nominated for an Oscar both times will be good incentives enough. I believe she tied some other actor for being nominated for playing the same character in two different movies, but it would probably be a first if she got nominated three times. And as the saying goes, third time's the charm...

At any rate, the movie works both as a period film and a history lesson, and if you like Blanchett, you should absolutely watch it.

Grade: 7

Friday, December 12, 2008

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Nicole and I went to see this at the movies for Family Night (Danny missed it and don't ask why). We had a very good time. Got something to eat first, and then bought some popcorn and enjoyed this flick, even thought we had set out to watch Bolt instead. Overall, a very nice date with my daughter :)

I haven't seen the first one (Madagascar) but I didn't feel like I was missing any substantial information that precluded me from following the sequel.

The story is very simple, and it's all in the title. The animation is good and so is the acting. Naturally, the script isn't bad either, or I'd feel very different.

A good movie for the whole family.

Grade: 7

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Zodiac

I seem to remember this movie getting mixed reviews, but I enjoyed it, even though at times I did have flashes of déjà vu from other movies, like Seven or All the President's Men, but that must have been because of the movie setting (a newspaper) and theme (a serial killer's evil deeds).

The story follows the attacks of a serial killer known as the Zodiac, the police officers that try to catch him before he acts again, and the journalists that report on the cases.

Given that the whole story is based on actual events, the film takes on a heavier layer of gravitas, but ultimately fails to feel complete on some level.

Nonetheless, I did enjoy it and would recommend it, especially since the cast includes an actor whose craft I really respect (Robert Downey Jr.), an actress who always surprises me with her understated and yet distinguished performances (Chloë Sevigny), and two actors who might not reach Downey Jr.'s bravura, but are always pleasing on the eyes (Mark Ruffalo and Jake Gyllenhaal).

Grade: 8

Friday, December 05, 2008

Manipulating Geography

These maps reflect what the world would look like if the size of each nation reflected their:

LAND AREA - the size of each territory represents exactly its land area in proportion to that of the others:


WEALTH IN THE YEAR 1 AD - India and China were the superpowers around 2,000 years ago, when few people even lived in the Americas:


WEALTH IN THE YEAR 1900 - after the Industrial Revolution helped the UK dominate the world, while the US was getting ready to take over:


PROJECTED WEALTH IN THE YEAR 2015 - when, by all estimates, China will once again be the biggest kid on the block:


HIV PREVALENCE - no surprises here, but take a look at India:


1980-2000 INCREASE IN EMISSIONS OF CARBON DIOXIDE - here too, the predictable baddies are the US, China, and India:


INTERNATIONAL IMMIGRATION - as expected, the US dominates followed by Europe:


TOURIST DESTINATIONS - but the old continent is the clear winner here:


AIRCRAFT TRAVEL - the US dominates, followed by Europe:


RAIL TRAVEL - while India, China, and Japan dominate here:


Click on any image to see a bigger version and click here for even more interesting maps.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

A rare alignment


I saw this spectacle Monday night when I walked out of my office building. It was really amazing, although at the time I had no idea that the two bright spots were Venus and Jupiter (WOW!!) and that this particular conjunction is quite rare.

It won't happen again until May 11, 2011, so catch it if you still can. It was still visible here last night, although the Moon was much further away than on Monday.

Ratatouille

I missed this movie when it was out in theaters and had to watch it on tv (HERESY!!) and not even in HD (BLASPHEMY!!), which is a pity because it truly is a spectacle to behold.

Naturally, this being a Pixar production, the animation's wondrous details aren't its only strength. As usual, the script is well developed, both funny and touchy, and the voice over acting excellent.

The story, without spoiling anything, is that of a mouse who, unlike his brethren, loves food's qualities over its quantity, and is hell bent on putting his skills in the kitchen to the test.

We watched this movie on Family Night, but this is by no means a kids-only movie. Like all Pixar films, it can be thoroughly enjoyed by adults as well.

PS: Do not watch this movie on an empty stomach. It will make you hungry.

Grade: 8

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

A Quote By:

Gay Catholic author Richard Rodriguez:
"Now these churches are going after homosexuals as a way of insisting on their own propriety. They are insisting that they have a role to play in the general society as moral guardians, when what we have seen in the recent past is just the opposite. I mean, it's one thing for the churches to insist on their right to define the sacrament of marriage for their own members. But it's quite another for them to insist that they have a right to define the relationships of people outside their communities. That's really what's most troubling about Proposition 8. It was a deliberate civic intrusion by the churches."

Monday, December 01, 2008

Love for all

What a beautiful commercial:



This is a promotional tool from former tennis pro Bjorn Borg's new online dating business.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Metroid Prime 3 Corruption

I just realized I never blogged about the Wii, my very first game console, which I favored for the promise of a full-body experience in game play instead of just your hands.

At first I purchased a ton of games (mostly from eBay, where I saved a bundle), until I realized that it can take quite a long time to play a game through completely, which is the ultimate goal.

At first I'd play a little bit of every game I had, but then I realized that, given the fact that I didn't have that much time to play to begin with, if I ever wanted to complete (beat, in the video game parlance) a game, I needed to concentrate on one at a time.

Metroid Prime 3 Corruption was the chosen one, for several reasons. The sci-fi environment is probably my favorite, the graphics are incredible, and I like first-person shooter and adventure games the most.

This game is simply fantastic. The action is great and grows in difficulty, allowing you to get good at it and beat the bosses (the bad guys) even though they get badder and harder to beat. The story is interesting and the different worlds engaging. Each world even has its own score and lighting/color theme.

The game, in which you control the bounty hunter Samus Aran as she battles the Space Pirates, alternates between looking for the stuff you have to gather and fighting off the enemies that keep trying to stop you from reaching your goal. In the end, it's a great adventure that I'd recommend to anyone who likes this type of game.

I actually liked it so much, I bought Metroid Prime, the previous incarnation, for the GameCube, for which I bought a few other games as well, most notably, those that belong to The Lord of the Rings canon, just to add them to my collection =0)

Looking forward to the next adventure with Samus Aran.

Grade: 10

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Night at the Museum

Although I like Ben Stiller, I can't say I'm a big fan of his movies. Some are ok, but I never saw any movie he starred in that made me go "Whoa!"

We watched this one on family night, and I would only recommend it as such.

The story is simple and predictable, without any major surprises, but the action kept the kids glued to the screen, so that's good.

The visual effects and makeup, thankfully, are good enough that they don't look tacky, and the star studded cast delivers decently without stupefying.

Grade: 6

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

A chance encounter

Apparently that's what made life on Earth a reality, at least according to newly released research:
A chance encounter about 1.9 billion years ago, led to life on Earth, say scientists.

New research finds that an amoeba-like organism engulfed a bacterium that had developed the power to use sunlight to break down water to make oxygen.

The bacterium could have been intended as prey, but instead became incorporated into its attacker's body, transforming it into the ancestor of every tree, flowering plant and seaweed on Earth today.

Paul Falkowski, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at Rutgers University in New Jersey says that this single event transformed evolution of life on Earth.

"The descendants of that tiny organism transformed our atmosphere, filling it with the oxygen needed for animals and, eventually humans to evolve."
And I'm sure the closing paragraph of the article will send all fanatic believers shrieking in a corner:
"Nothing else can provide the energy needed to fuel the demands of multicellular organism. True photosynthesis evolved only once, and the chance encounter that gave rise to plants also happened just once. These were two freak accidents in the 3.5 billion-year history of life on Earth."

A Quote By:

A November 24, 2008 editorial in The New York Time:

"Allowing Proposition 8 to stand would greatly limit the court’s ability to uphold the basic rights of all Californians and preclude the Legislature from performing its constitutional duty to weigh such monumental changes before they go to voters.

Treating Proposition 8 as a mere amendment would set a precedent that could allow the rights of any minority group to be diminished by a small majority. The measure passed 52 percent to 48 percent."

Religulous

I was looking forward to this documentary both for its theme -- an objective analysis of religion -- and its star, Bill Maher, whom I really like both for his humor and for his views on religion, which match mine to a T.

The final result doesn't disappoint, and although the editing might have been tweaked to drive home Maher's point that religion is full of idiotic make believe and is oftentimes used to justify one's evil deeds, I found it quite honest, objective, and straightforward.

In fact, although his detractors argued that Maher scavenged for weirdos and fanatics, the vast majority of the people he interviewed were regular folk, religious leaders, politicians, or people of faith. And if some of those depicted sounded like weirdos that only proves the documentary's success.

Whatever your views about religion, this is a good documentary that should make you think about the role of religion in society.

Grade: 7.5

Monday, November 24, 2008

Meteor!!

A meteor fell from the sky in Alberta, Canada last week, and it was big and it was caught on video by a police officer's patrol car's dashboard camera.

Check it out!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Web Therapy

Entertainment Weekly pointed me to a series of shorts starring Lisa Kudrow, one of the funniest actresses I've ever seen.

I never watched Friends, but I loved her in HBO's The Comeback.

In Web Therapy, a series of shorts produced by LStudio.com (courtesy of Lexus) Lisa plays a therapist who decides to forgo the typical 50-minute therapy sessions for short 3-minute online ones, because the longer sessions used to bore her to death!!

So far there are 9 episodes with 3 different patients, and they're all hysterical.

This is the first one:

A Quote By:

Anonymous black woman from Oklahoma, the only state in which not a single county went for Obama on November 4, hence, the reddest state in the country:
"Rosa Parks sat down so that Martin Luther King Jr. could walk. Martin walked so that Obama could run. Obama ran so that our children could fly."

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

A Quote By:

Wanda Sykes, actress, comedian:
"When California passed Prop 8 ... I felt like I was being attacked, personally attacked, our community was attacked. I got married Oct. 25. You know, I don't really talk about my sexual orientation, I didn't feel like I had to, I was just living my life and, not necessarily in the closet, but I was just living my life. Everybody that knows me personally, they know I'm gay. And that's the way people should be able to live their lives. We shouldn't have to be standing out here demanding something that we automatically should have as citizens of this country. And I got pissed off. They pissed me off. I said, You know what, now I gotta get in your face. And that's what we all have to do now. They pissed off the wrong group of people. They have galvanized a community. We are so together now and we all want the same thing and we are not going to settle for less."

A Quote By:

Wayne Besen, author and activist, on the aftermath of the passage of Proposition 8 in California:
"Far from a victory, anti-gay forces unleashed a ferocious storm with powerful winds of change that will only end with the sound of wedding bells."

The 2008 US electoral map

I know the election is over and it sort of feels like it was a long time ago, but these images were too cool not to post.

This is what the US map looks like based on which state went to Obama (blue) and McCain (red):


Looks like the majority of the country voted Republican while it was the Democratic candidate who won the election, but that's only because of the unevenness between population distribution and size of each individual state.

If we were to resize each state based on their population, this is what the US would look like:


Blue is by far the dominant color here, which is a reflection of what really went on in the election.

However, the US presidential election is not won by whoever gathers the majority of popular votes, but by whoever gathers 270 votes in the electoral college, which are distributed based on a state's population and are therefore fluid.

Taking that into account, the following map shows what the US would look like if we resized each state based on its electoral votes:


Very small variations that do not change the overall look of a vastly blue map.

Finally, electoral votes are assigned as a whole to the winner of the popular vote in (almost) each state, but the distribution of the votes in the state varies greatly between areas.

The next map shows how each county voted, and it would appear that the Republicans were the dominant party and the Democrats a constant minority:


A sea of read with a few splashes of blue here and there. How sad.

However, if we again resized each county based on its population, this is what the US would look like:


As you can see, the tables are turned and the US is now a sea of blue with a few splashes of red here and there.

A much more pleasing image to look, if you ask me.

You can find more here.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Separate is NEVER equal



FIGHT H8!

Same-sex marriage officially legal in CT

The marriages started officially today after a judge entered the final judgment in the case following the historic Supreme Court decision to allow same-sex marriages in the state on the basis of the state constitution's equality clause.



Now, on to the next state.

One by one, we'll win in all.

Fight the H8!!

The passage of Proposition 8 in California, which resulted, for the first time in the history of the United States, in taking rights away from a minority by the majority, has inspired a lot of anger, outrage, and many protests, all over the state and the nation.

Ray and I are going to participate in a protest this coming Saturday, here in New Haven, Connecticut.

Please, to anyone out there, gay or straight ally, add your voice to the chorus of outrage at a group of individuals who used their money to spread a bunch of lies to trick good people into voting to add their religious views, their bigotry, and their discrimination to the California state constitution.

It is against equality, it is against the separation of church and state and it is against the American ideal of freedom and fundamental rights for all.

Bottom line, it is wrong.

These are some of the images that accompany the current fight for gay civil rights. I find them very effective and smart:

A Quote By:

This is from an editorial in The New York Times:
"Far from showing that California’s Supreme Court was wrong to extend the right of marriage to gay people, the passage of Proposition 8 is a reminder of the crucial role that the courts play in protecting vulnerable groups from unfair treatment."

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

The new face of America

The clock turns back in California

I'm not proud to say that I'm often a pessimist and a cynic, but I think I use those traits to shield myself from disappointment, especially when my civil rights are at stake in an election where people I don't know and who don't know me, will have a say in what I can or cannot do.

For this reason, the 2008 election draws to a close with a few disappointing results in anti-gay ballot initiatives around the country. We lost in Arizona, where I had little hope, and in Florida, where all the polls were saying passage of the gay-marriage ban was all but guaranteed to fail.

But above all, we lost in California, where, for the first time, voters decided to take away gay-marriage after it had already been granted to same-sex couples. Apparently, over 18,000 couples' marriages are now in limbo.

We did gain some ground in California, though, since a similar ballot initiative was supported, a few years back, by 61% of the population, while now only 52% decided to punish us. The problem is that, the last time is was just a law. This time, it's going to end up in the state Constitution, which makes it all but irremovable.

I guess hate won again last night.

But in the darkest of darkness, a glimmer of hope comes from our home state of Connecticut, where the ballot initiative to have a Constitutional Convention to revise the state Constitution (to ban the recently legalized gay-marriage) was widely rejected by a 60-40 margin.

That question can only be posed once every 20 years, which means that the haters can pretty much forget about banning gay-marriage via a Constitutional amendment by following that path. And given that the Congress is solidly Democratic now, any other path looks dire at best.

This leaves us with Massachusetts and Connecticut as the only 2 states with full marriage equality.

But more hope lies ahead, given that the Democrats were able to wrestle control from the Republicans of the New York Senate, which was the only block on the way to gay-marriage there, since the state House already passed it and the governor already stated he wants it.

And New Jersey will likely follow suit, since they realized that civil unions aren't equal to marriage and the population is in favor of full equality. Here, too, the legislature and governor are on our side, so it's the closest thing to a sure bet.

Again, a bittersweet night, particularly for the loss in California, but also a night when we won the biggest prize, the White House.

Obama is, by far, the most pro-gay President we could hope for. He stated over and over that he is for full equality for everyone under the law, and for the repeal of the draconian Defense of Marriage Act (and Don't Ask Don't Tell).

He also supports the United American Families Act, which would allow Ray to sponsor me for a green card.

So, in conclusion, let's try to look at the glass as half full, because it sure looks that way from afar.

President Elect Barack Obama


Barack Hussein Obama has been elected the 44th President of the United States of America.

What a thrill last night has been. State after state, Obama took many, while McCain took a few. But Obama was winning the important ones, the battleground ones, while McCain was only taking those that were expected to go to him.

After Obama won Ohio, McCain's last glimmer of hope was snuffed. And he conceded soon after.

In the end, when the polls closed on the west coast, the election was called, and Obama was the new President Elect, who will be sworn in this coming January 20.

And the celebrations began.

History was made last night, and the last racial barrier was broken when the first African-American was elected President of the US.

Needless to say, I'm thrilled that our children will have such a role model to look up to while growing up.

Needless to say, Obama gives hope to all who are willing to listen.

Needless to say, the world, today, is better off for having Barack Obama as the winner of the 2008 White House race.

YES WE CAN!

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Mulan

Needless to say, we watched this movie on Family Night. Nicole picked it, and I'm glad she did because the title heroine is a very good role model for young girls: she's strong, wise, and unwilling to let a patriarchal society set the rules by which to live her life.

The movie showcases quite a few battles and fights, and they're pretty raw, so much so that the first time Nicole saw it she was pretty scared, and did not like it. But this time she loved it.

The movie, now ten years old, stands the test of time both in terms of the story it tells and the way it tells it, the classic 2D-Disney style that never disappoints when paired with a good story.

A nice movie for the whole family.

Grade: 7.5

Monday, November 03, 2008

Schadenfreude

Just read this line on a CNN article:
"The more many Americans have found out about Palin, the less they like her."
That pretty much single-handedly made my day that much better.

GO OBAMA!!

Sunday, November 02, 2008

The Descent

This movie is undeniably scary and if you like the genre, you shouldn't miss it. The premise is simple and the setting claustrophobic enough to guarantee a lot of tension and jumpy moments.

My only gripe is with the very last scene, which comes across like a slap in the face that jolts the viewer right out of "the zone" the movie works so hard to create. And my question is, Why? Was it really necessary to make the movie work? No. So, does that scene detract from the whole experience? Yes, and the fact that I'm here writing about it is the evidence that proves it.

That last "scare" is so superfluous and irrelevant, it should have ended up on the editing room floor. Instead, in order to get one more cheap scare out of the audience, the director decided to tag it along, thereby cheapening the whole production.

The movie would have ended on a much higher note if, for instance, the camera had simply panned up and away, slowly, with the score hovering and the credits beginning to roll. That's more or less the way 1972's Deliverance ends, a much more effective finale, and one that leaves you wondering what will happen next, instead of feeling like someone screamed "The movie's over, please leave the auditorium!!"

Not only that. I also have to admit that, conditioned by that kind of final whammy in movie after movie, part of me was wondering when it would happen and what it would be. By including that scene, The Descent failed to distinguish itself from so many other crappier products and only re-established a cliché.

That being said, however, The Descent is still a good entry in the horror genre, and by far one of the best I've seen in a while.

Grade: 7.5

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Obama's promise of hope

I had never looked too closely at Obama's presidential platform, but I just stumbled upon this excerpt of it and it made my hope he gets elected this coming Tuesday grow even more, if that's at all possible:
Senator Obama's presidential platform includes the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy prohibiting openly gay people from serving. While the Obama/Biden campaign opposes extending civil marriage to same-sex couples, it does advocate for equal access to federal benefits for legally united partners, adoption rights, a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and the Uniting American Families Act, which would allow an American citizen to sponsor one's same-sex partner for immigration.
GO OBAMA!!

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan

Widely considered by Star Trek fans as the single best movie in the Trek series, this was the only one I had never seen.

While I agree that it is engaging and well made, it does not top my personal list. That honor goes to Star Trek: First Contact.

I also enjoyed Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which, although slow and at times boring, was based on a story concept that I find, to this day, absolutely brilliant.

In Khan, the story is interesting and the action scenes superb, but I couldn't get past the campiness of the acting on the part of virtually the entire cast (exception made, possibly, for Leonard Nimoy's Spock, whose alien nature might exonerate him from looking affected).

Granted, it's still a great sci-fi movie and one of the top 3 in the series, possibly the second best, but I'll stick by the superiorly made First Contact.

Grade: 8.5

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

We're running out of time

A new study by WWF reveals that the IPCC study released last year that finally put to rest any final doubt that global warming is already happening and that humans caused it, is way off, and not in a good way:
'Extreme weather events' such as the hot summer of 2003, which caused an extra 35,000 deaths across southern Europe from heat stress and poor air quality, will happen more frequently.

Britain and the North Sea area will be hit more often by violent cyclones and the predicted rise in sea level will double to more than a metre, putting vast coastal areas at risk from flooding.

The bleak report from WWF - formerly the World Wildlife Fund - also predicts crops failures and the collapse of eco systems on both land and sea.
[...]
The agency says that the 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - a study of global warming by 4,000 scientists from more than 150 countries which alerted the world to the possible consequences of global warming - is now out of date.

WWF's report, Climate Change: Faster, stronger, sooner, has updated all the scientific data and concluded that global warming is accelerating far beyond the IPCC's forecasts.

As an example it says the first 'tipping point' may have already been reached in the Arctic, where sea ice is disappearing up to 30 years ahead of IPCC predictions and may be gone completely within five years - something that hasn't occurred for a million years.

It could result in rapid and abrupt climate change rather than the gradual changes forecast by the IPCC.
Scary stuff. I wouldn't want to be living on a small island or in a coastal city in the next few decades...

Our kids' future prospects?

Scary data from this CNN article:
Your child is less likely to graduate from high school than you were, and most states are doing little to hold schools accountable, according to a study by a children's advocacy group.
[...]
The numbers are dismal: One in four kids is dropping out of school, a rate that hasn't budged for at least five years.

"The U.S. is stagnating while other industrialized countries are surpassing us," said Anna Habash, author of the report by Education Trust, which advocates on behalf of minority and poor children. "And that is going to have a dramatic impact on our ability to compete," she said.

In fact, the United States is now the only industrialized country where young people are less likely than their parents to earn a diploma, the report said, citing data compiled by the international Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Obama's hope

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., waves to a crowd estimated at over 100,000 people at a rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008.
This was the largest U.S. rally to date for Obama, and hopefully, a harbinger of a landslide victory for this very intelligent, deserving and caring man.

The U.S. and the rest of the world would all be better off with an Obama win next week, so let's hope the Republicans don't successfully steal yet another election.

GO OBAMA!!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

HOPE

I just saw this beautiful video created from a speech given by Harvey Milk, the San Francisco gay rights activist, who was the first gay elected official in California and paid for his beliefs with his life.



I can't wait to see the Milk movie that's coming out soon, directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Penn as Milk.

Friday, October 10, 2008

And then there were 3: Connecticut

I just got this email:
Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Friday, October 10, 2008 -- 12:17 PM ET
-----

Connecticut Ruling Overturns Ban on Same-Sex Marriage

Connecticut's Supreme Court ruled Friday that same-sex couples have the right to marry, making the state the third to legalize such unions.
Great news and time to celebrate.

Unfortunately, not unlike in California, there's a dark cloud on the horizon. On election day, less than a month away, voters will have to decide if there should be a Constitutional Convention to change the state constitution, and this ruling will likely push the majority of voters to vote yes, which would start the process to overturn this historical ruling.

But at least till then, we've won another victory.

YES!!

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Another chip drops

I'm referring to the next developments in alarming global warming signs:
Arctic scientists discover new global warming threat as melting permafrost releases millions of tons of a gas 20 times more damaging than carbon dioxide.

The first evidence that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed has been discovered by scientists.

The Independent has been passed details of preliminary findings suggesting that massive deposits of sub-sea methane are bubbling to the surface as the Arctic region becomes warmer and its ice retreats.

Underground stores of methane are important because scientists believe their sudden release has in the past been responsible for rapid increases in global temperatures, dramatic changes to the climate, and even the mass extinction of species.
[...]
In the past few days, the researchers have seen areas of sea foaming with gas bubbling up through "methane chimneys" rising from the sea floor. They believe that the sub-sea layer of permafrost, which has acted like a "lid" to prevent the gas from escaping, has melted away to allow methane to rise from underground deposits formed before the last ice age.
[...]
Methane is about 20 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and many scientists fear that its release could accelerate global warming in a giant positive feedback where more atmospheric methane causes higher temperatures, leading to further permafrost melting and the release of yet more methane.
[...]
"The conventional thought has been that the permafrost 'lid' on the sub-sea sediments on the Siberian shelf should cap and hold the massive reservoirs of shallow methane deposits in place. The growing evidence for release of methane in this inaccessible region may suggest that the permafrost lid is starting to get perforated and thus leak methane... The permafrost now has small holes. We have found elevated levels of methane above the water surface and even more in the water just below. It is obvious that the source is the seabed."
Worrisome news indeed.

Article here. More here and here.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Little menace

This article made me feel so sad, primarily for the animals that were killed, but also for the parents of this kid, who have their work cut out for them, and for the kid too, who after all must be seriously disturbed to perform such an act:
A seven-year-old boy has been filmed going on the rampage at a popular zoo in Australia, killing rare reptiles and feeding live ones to a crocodile.

Footage from the security cameras at Alice Springs Reptile Centre caught the child smiling as he killed a total of 13 animals.

During his 30-minute spree, he was seen hurling the animals over the security fence into the crocodile enclosure.
[...]
The attack happened on Wednesday morning after the boy entered the zoo by jumping over the security fence and evading sensor alarms.

Over the next half hour, he bludgeoned some of the animals to death with stones and hurled others over the two fences surrounding the crocodile enclosure.
[...]
Zoo director Rex Neindorf said many of the animals were rare or mature and would be difficult to replace.
[...]
As children under the age of 10 cannot be held accountable for their actions in the Northern Territory, the zoo would be seeking to take action against the parents.

"We'll be looking at suing the parents, who were supposedly in control of him at the time," he said.
I hope they do, after all, the parents were supposed to know where their son was and keep him under control.

I cannot imagine that this was the first ever episode of "craziness" on the part of this child, which means that the parents should have kept a very close eye on him and even sought professional help in dealing with him.

Whatever happens to kid and his parents, the animals are dead and it will cost the town a lot of money to replace them. And for an animal lover like me, they cannot be replaced, since they were unique beings.

Friday, October 03, 2008

Sarah the turtle

Ray sent me this yesterday:
While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old rancher, who's hand was caught in the gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Palin and her bid.

The old rancher said, "Well, ya know, Palin is a Post Turtle."
Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a 'post turtle' was.

The old rancher said, "When you're driving down a country road you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle."


The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. "You know she didn't get up there by herself, she doesn't belong up there, and she doesn't know what to do while she's up there, and you just wonder what kind of dummy put her up there to begin with."
Very funny.

It would be even funnier if it weren't so true.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

In Memoriam

Paul Newman, actor, civil rights activist, philanthropist, devoted husband, Oscar winner and one of the last big movie stars of the 20th century, died this past Friday at his Westport, Connecticut home after a long battle with cancer.

From the NYTimes.com:
If Marlon Brando and James Dean defined the defiant American male as a sullen rebel, Paul Newman recreated him as a likable renegade, a strikingly handsome figure of animal high spirits and blue-eyed candor whose magnetism was almost impossible to resist, whether the character was Hud, Cool Hand Luke or Butch Cassidy.

He acted in more than 65 movies over more than 50 years, drawing on a physical grace, unassuming intelligence and good humor that made it all seem effortless.

Yet he was also an ambitious, intellectual actor and a passionate student of his craft, and he achieved what most of his peers find impossible: remaining a major star into a craggy, charismatic old age even as he redefined himself as more than Hollywood star. He raced cars, opened summer camps for ailing children and became a nonprofit entrepreneur with a line of foods that put his picture on supermarket shelves around the world.
[...]
Mr. Newman’s filmography was a cavalcade of flawed heroes and winning antiheroes stretching over decades. In 1958 he was a drifting confidence man determined to marry a Southern belle in an adaptation of “The Long, Hot Summer.” In 1982, in “The Verdict,” he was a washed-up alcoholic lawyer who finds a chance to redeem himself in a medical malpractice case.
Of his food company's legacy:
All its profits, of more than $200 million, have been donated to charity, the company says.

Much of the money was used to create a string of Hole in the Wall Gang Camps, named for the outlaw gang in “Butch Cassidy.” The camps provide free summer recreation for children with cancer and other serious illnesses. Mr. Newman was actively involved in the project, even choosing cowboy hats as gear so that children who had lost their hair because of chemotherapy could disguise their baldness.
Of his long marriage to Joanne Woodward:
In an industry in which long marriages might be defined as those that last beyond the first year and the first infidelity, Mr. Newman and Ms. Woodward’s was striking for its endurance. But they admitted that it was often turbulent. She loved opera and ballet. He liked playing practical jokes and racing cars. But as Mr. Newman told Playboy magazine, in an often-repeated quotation about marital fidelity, “I have steak at home; why go out for hamburger?”
I, like many, never thought too highly of his acting skills because of his incredible good looks, and those amazing blue eyes, and yet, his craft is undeniable.

I look forward to watching many of his movies I never got to see before.

As they say when such a great presence is gone, It's the end of an era.

Friday, September 26, 2008

No Country for Old Men

Joel and Ethan Coen finally struck gold with this Oscar winner featuring a scarily wonderful Javier Bardem as a ruthless killer.

[SPOILER PARAGRAPH] Bardem is trying to track down a bag of money that was stolen from the site of a drug delivery gone bad. The (un)lucky guy who found the money at first tries to run and then to fight back. His sheriff is on his tail too, as are the people who owned the money to begin with. What will happen?

Everything in this movie is of the highest quality: acting (besides Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin are excellent), cinematography, editing, screenplay, direction, so it most definitely deserved its Best Picture Oscar win. Bardem was also awarded an Oscar, for Best Supporting Actor, while the Coen brothers won for direction, production and screenplay. Quite the trifecta.

The thing I liked the most was that, typical of the Coen brand, the movie didn't follow the Hollywood canon of how a movie should be made, with a beginning, a middle and an end, all plainly explained, a resolution to every thread and a happy ending. The Coens aren't afraid to break mold and usually come out with pretty interesting products. This is one of their best.

Don't miss it.

Grade: 9

Blood Diamond

This Leonardo DiCaprio vehicle doesn't disappoint in terms of action or acting.

[SPOILER PARAGRAPH] The plot follows DiCaprio in his attempt to recover a very big and rare pink diamond, hidden somewhere in Sierra Leone by the man who found it, Djimon Hounsou, who is leveraging the diamond's location to reunite and rescue his family from the nation's civil war unrest.

The cast is pretty good all around, although the mandatory love story between DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly isn't very convincing and I believe detracts from the final product.

A nice score with a wonderful cinematography complement a well directed movie whose message makes you wonder if there's anything people wouldn't do for riches.

I sure hope the diamonds in my wedding band were mined without any risk to anyone's life. And if I had to buy more, I'd definitely ask if their origin were legit and how it can be proved.

Grade: 7.5

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Don't drink juice and take meds!!

A new study has discovered that drinking juice around the time you take a medication might dramatically decrease its effectiveness:
Drinking fruit juice dramatically reduces the effectiveness of drugs used to treat cancer, heart conditions and high blood pressure, scientists say.

Research has shown that orange, apple and grapefruit juice can also wipe out the benefits of some antibiotics and hay-fever pills.

It is thought the drinks stop drugs from entering the bloodstream and getting to work in the body - possibly rendering them useless.

The potential effects are so serious, researchers warned, that if in doubt, patients should swap fruit juices for water when on medication.
[...]
The study showed juices do not need to be taken at the same time as drugs to have a dangerous effect.

Those drunk up to two hours before can reduce drug absorption.

But patients need not stop drinking juice altogether.

Professor Bailey said: 'Juice taken four hours prior to drug intake did not have an effect. Thus, it should be possible still to take grapefruit, orange and apple juices while on affected medications provided there is a sufficient time interval.

'I would recommend taking drugs with water on an empty stomach to get the most consistent effect.'
[...]
Professor Bailey made the link after asking volunteers to take the hay fever drug fexofenadine at the same time as either a glass of water or grapefruit juice.

Taking it with juice cut its absorption into the bloodstream by half.

Experiments showed naringin, the chemical which makes grapefruit taste bitter, blocked the drug from moving from the small intestine into the bloodstream.

The researchers have pinpointed a naringin-like compound in orange juice and are looking for a similar one in apples.

A different mechanism is at play with the drugs whose levels are boosted by grapefruit juice.

There, juice deactivates a liver enzyme that breaks down drugs, making normal doses potential overdoses.

The study is not the first to highlight the dangers behind supposedly healthy juices.

Last month, research from Harvard Medical School in the U.S., showed that one glass of orange juice a day can increase the risk of a form of diabetes linked to poor diet and obesity.

But eating whole pieces of fruit cuts the likelihood of developing the disease. It is thought the lack of fibre in juices may cause spikes in blood sugar levels.
Wow! That's incredible. I often take medication with juice. Just this week, when I had the flu, I drank a lot of juice to keep hydrated. I guess I invalidated part of the medicines I took.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Flags of Our Fathers

Another movie by Clint Eastwood, another successful exploration of what happens to ordinary people when they are faced with challenging circumstances.

Flags of Our Fathers tells the story of the small group of soldiers who raised the US flag at Iwo Jima in one of the bloodiest, and yet little glamorized battles of World War II. That simple action, forever immortalized in newspapers all over the country, set off an effort that was both noble and deceiving and that forever changed the country and the three soldiers who got trotted wherever a contribution to the war effort could be elicited.

Given the fact that the US was uniquely engaged on both fronts of the war, in the East against Italy and Germany and in the West against the Japanese, it is laudable that Eastwood decided to shine a light on the latter, since many more movies have been made about the D-Day battle and the European victories than those fought in the Pacific.

Like many war movies, this too is an ensemble piece, and the whole cast does a very good job. The three actors who got top billing, Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford and Adam Beach worked well together but their performances felt, at times, uneven. Beach effectively gets across his character’s pain for what happened to his war buddies and the falsity that now surrounds him and that he himself must stoke, but at times he seems too theatrical. Phillippe does an all right job as the war doctor who has become somewhat numb as a consequence of all the pain and death he has witnessed, but he still needs to convince me he’s more than a (gorgeously) pretty face. Bradford’s performance actually is the weakest, since all you see is a (very) pretty boy.

Technically, the movie is impeccable. The cinematography, washed out like in an old postcard from the middle of the twentieth century, adds a patina of sadness, immediacy and danger to the proceedings. Both visual and sound effects are very well done, and the main assault, more intercut and drawn out than Spielberg’s famous opening scene for Saving Private Ryan, is just as masterful.

The editing is the only aspect of the movie that put me a bit off. Because of all the different characters and the numerous flashbacks involving a large number of them, I often found myself having to hit the rewind button just to be able to put all the pieces together. Maybe this jaggedness was intended, but I found it a bit frustrating.

Finally, the brilliance and courage of Eastwood’s craft is that he looked at the events occurring in Flags of Our Fathers in another movie as well, a movie that he released the same year, Letters from Iwo Jima. The difference between the two is that the second one recounts the events of that point in time from the Japanese perspective. I haven’t seen Letters from Iwo Jima yet, but I plan to, since the reviews were even more stellar than for Flags of Our Fathers.

A good war movie. Watch it.

Grade: 8

Jarhead

An interesting reflection on the first Iraq war, the Gulf War, the one that actually did have a reasonable purpose, was well executed, and accomplished what it set out to do, that is free Kuwait from Saddam Hussein’s invasion.

[SPOILER PARAGRAPH] The movie follows a group of young marines as they prepare to go to the Gulf and subsequently get ready to “kick the Iraqi Army’s butt.” As you would expect, they have great expectations regarding their upcoming big assault, but instead of being unleashed against Hussein’s forces right away, they are forced to sit and wait until those in command decide it’s time to attack. When the time comes, however, the Air Force is engaged first, to clear the way for a ground assault and reduce casualties, and the might of their attack is so big that Hussein is forced to capitulate, leaving our wanna-be heroes to watch from the sidelines, disappointed and frustrated, without having fired a single bullet.

As I said, it’s an interesting concept, based on a true story, that has its moments, but never really feels like a complete and satisfying tale. When the credits roll, you just get up and walk away, and what you saw is soon forgotten. Not a sign of a successful film, I would say.

Jake Gyllenhaal, as a strong, young man who is still trying to figure out what he wants for his life, is good (and steaming hot) in a role that is the polar opposite of his previous one, opposite Heath Ledger, in the sorrowful Brokeback Mountain.

The rest of the cast is very good and includes a few exceptional actors (Peter Sarsgaard, Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, and Dennis Haysbert), but no one particularly stands out, except perhaps for Sarsgaard, who alternatively stokes Gyllenhaal’s character’s fire and makes him realize the negative impact that war has on men.

Check this title out if you like war movies (but keep your expectations low) or if you like Jake Gyllenhaal (you won’t be disappointed), otherwise, skip it.

Grade: 6