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.

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:

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

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

Delusional

Another great comic by Ben Sargent:

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

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.

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

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."

Love for all

What a beautiful commercial:



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