Communications – Page 81 – Fooyah

January 13 2014February 13 2014

12 Years A Slave

This is a very powerful film. It was very hard, as a “modern” person with mostly liberal values and also someone who has no belief in god but believes we should do good to each other, to understand that this film was mostly true. The treatment of the millions of people who were considered slaves and of those who are slaves in our current times is shocking.

It is hard to imagine a time when the LAW of a land allowed the OWNERSHIP of people by other people. This film should be seen by everyone, it should be required viewing, it is very good.

It was interesting to see the stylistic additions to the film. The long shots of the Louisiana countryside and calming times of clouds. This was in stark contrast to the violence and conditions within which the slaves were kept.

In one scene a female slave is whipped. This is a graphic scene. My emotional reaction to this was far more than my reaction to the similar scenes in the film The Passion Of The Christ. I think I reacted more because this happened to real people over and over in a barbaric system of legalised slavery. The mutilation of Christ in the Mel Gibson film didn’t bother me. There’s not a great deal of evidence for it [in fact there isn’t any good evidence for the existence of Christ himself].

Overall this is a film worth seeing or if you don’t want to see it you should be forced to.

January 13 2014January 13 2014

How You Know

The picture shows the window from a local “osteopathy” practice. One day I will go into the shop to ask them about their various practices. However, for now, I shall rely upon the scientific evidence for the following treatments.

This shop purveys:

Osteopathy
Homoeopathy
Allergy Testing
Chiropody
Beauty Therapy
Massage
Sports Injury
Ultra Sound Therapy

So, beauty therapy is fine. I don’t care what you slap on your face I’m pretty sure that, as long as they make no health claims, I couldn’t care what they do. Beauty advertising is beset with rubbish [the “n” signs of aging etc where “n” is a value between 3 and 11 and preferably an odd number] so any claims should be substantiated but these are unlikely to be detrimental to the health of anyone, just their wallets.

Chiropody is a proper thing and I will not take issue with this.

Massage is ok as long as they make no claims to any health effects of massage apart from it making you feel nice. The potential benefits arise from being relaxed and calm, not from any particular aspect of the massage itself.

And now we head into more dangerous territory.

From looking around the web and critically assessing the evidence for therapeutic ultra sound I have to say I am extremely sceptical that it does anything. It is widely accepted as a form of therapy but there is remarkably little evidence that it works or does anything good. I think this is the first form of “woo” from this little shop. I doubt there are any good, documented benefits from this therapy.

Homoeopathy is rubbish. There is no good scientific evidence that it does anything or even contains anything. It is essentially water. I can’t reinforce just how much this stuff doesn’t work. If you have an establishment that is happy to dose people up with homoeopathy then you should be very wary of everything else that they do. It is utter and complete rubbish.

Finally, osteopathy. This mode of dealing with health problems is the most contentious here. The area I live in is blighted by the existence of the European School of Osteopathy nearby. My local doctors surgery even allows osteopathy to take place in its confines. I find this distressing. Osteopathy is an “alternative” medical treatment. This means it is not a treatment nor is it medical. It is based on a completely wrong understanding of how our bodies work. Scientifically osteopathy has been shown to be good for lower back pain and NOTHING else. The very best osteopaths practise what is more commonly known as physio-therapy. Much like chiropractic osteopathy has its roots in bullshit and has tried to change with a greater scientific understanding of medicine but can’t shoe horn itself in to the establishment. If you are suffering then you are best advised to see a physio-therapist, they at least have been taught the proper causes and effects of their work.

The problem with this shop frontage is that it has some [almost] legitimate services to offer and then it also offers utter bullshit.

You can tell osteopathy is rubbish by the company it keeps in these premises.

January 13 2014January 13 2014

Easter Already

The new year has just started which means that the next commercial event to darken these shores is Easter. Christmas is past. Our mid-winter festival and feast to celebrate the dark nights and cheer ourselves up is now history. The burgeoning pressure of consumerism has passed for another nine months.

Time then to get the eggs, bunnies, chickens and chocolate on display.

Wankers.

January 2 2014

Bridges, I See Three

There are three bridges here over the river Medway. See if you can spot them.
They are:

M2 Eastbound

M2 Westbound

Channel Tunnel Rail Link [CTRL]

January 2 2014January 9 2014

Infrastructure – Home Network

In 2001 I first got internet access and a home PC. I think it was 2001, it was either then or 2002! It was dial-up access with a bandwidth of around 56Kb/s I first got broadband and wireless in about 2004 or so. Since then I would agree with the “new” hierarchy of needs with Wi-Fi at the base. I feel definitely lost when I don’t have internet access, especially when my phone has no data signal too.

This is a diagram of my home network. Just because I wanted to, you know? This is an hour of my life I won’t get back, but was worth it. Click for a PDF.

January 2 2014January 2 2014

American Hustle

I left a little earlier today to get the to cinema and compared to yesterday I got there during the adverts, but this was, apparently a popular film, and I had to sit right at the front. Actually, I didn’t have to sit there, there were spaces towards the back but the whole front row was free and it was easier to sit there than to hunt a spare seat surrounded by people I wouldn’t mind being surrounded by.

An interesting thing about sitting this close is that I could see the pixels in the projection and this was a little disconcerting. I could only see them if I looked for them otherwise I let the film take me over. Curious to see the workings of digital projection this close compared to proper film.

American Hustle is an American crime film in the vain of Goodfellas. I enjoyed it a lot. The acting was brilliant. All the way through I was trying to work out who the lead actor was and when the credits rolled I was surprised as I hadn’t recognised him. To be honest I’m pretty bad a recognising film type people and that is subject of a future post. I didn’t recognise Jennifer Lawrence until about 3/4 of the way through the film. It was her eyes that gave her away!

I have noticed that this has received good reviews from the critics and that is very good. The film is well made, acted and shot. It is all in all: good. Is it a classic? No, because there are other films that have done this with better or equivalent results. I guess it’s Goodfellas for the 2010s generation.

My one problem is that I need to like the characters in a film to truly like it. I’m not sure I really liked these people. Although I really wanted to know the end of the story I didn’t care one way or another for the people [apart from the son]. They weren’t the most likeable people. The other character I actually liked was Stoddard Thorsen, the middle manager in the FBI. His story about ice-fishing was brilliant, a lovely little plot device.

The film opened with the words:

Some Of This Actually Happened

Well, that’s nice dear. It’d be more interesting to know which bits were real and which bits weren’t. Thanks, Wikipedia, for giving us the details.

Yes, this is a good film, but it left me feeling slightly empty.

January 2 2014September 22 2019

Alt-Fest [1]

This is my first communication about a music festival in 2014 that I am going to attend. In 2013 I went to the Download festival at Donington Circuit, see here for more information.

So, the basic story:

There’s a pretty good “gig” app on the iPhone called Songkick. It scanned my music library and then lets me know when bands I like are going to tour the UK (and other places) and generally keeps me informed, avoiding the need for me to regularly scan magazines or the web for information.

The phone beeped one day and Aesthetic Perfection had announced they were playing in February. I immediately got in touch with my gig-buddy and he said that he thought he was busy on the London date. After checking it turns out it is his wedding anniversary and so we agreed to pass that particular concert. I had thought about going by myself, when he asked if AP were playing anywhere else in the year. Looking through the app it turns out that they are playing something called Alt-Fest [this was a web link but the site is dead]..

A bit more digging and the line-up looked very interesting and the tickets were very reasonably priced. Andy said he thought he was in Italy during that time. After checking his diary and plans it turns out that Andy is indeed in Italy. I held off buying tickets for a while, thinking it would be unfair to go without him, and he thought about changing his flights.

One Friday morning I caved in and bought a couple of tickets and booked a hotel in Kettering. I’m not going to camp at a festival however lovely all the people there are. I like the idea of electricity and a warm shower and proper toilet.

So, next year I am going to Alt-Fest, which as far as I can gather is a crowd funded festival, they campaigned on Kickstarter and have gone from there. The only problem with that is it will become mainstream after just one season and will have to cope with all the commercial interests of all festival promoters. I hope they do well. There are going to be 50,000 people there and the acts look awesome.

Bands I’m looking forward to seeing:

Killing Joke
Senser
Aesthetic Perfection
Marylin Manson
Gary Numan
KMFDM
Blut Engel
Fuckshovel
Onslaught
Cradle of Filth
SAM
Suicide Commando
Concrete Lung

It is going to be good fun.

January 2 2014

Don’t Look Back – Boston

I bought this on my Boston phase. I bought up all their stuff as I really liked “Foreplay – Long Time” from Rock Band on the Playstation. Any Boston album is very well written and just what you want. I’m pretty sure this is stuff someone not into rock would cope with playing in the background. More driving music. See Boston review.

January 2 2014

Divine Intervention – Slayer

I bought this on the back of Slayer’s earlier music from the 80s and although I play this now and then there isn’t a track on it that I can remember. It all rather mushes into one song by the end. Sorry.

For Slayer brilliance you need to get Decade of Aggression. Simple.

January 2 2014

Discovery – Daft Punk

I think I’ve listened to this a couple of times. I’ve been getting into electronic music since I saw Combichrist with Rammstein a few years ago. I don’t think I could tell you anything about any particular song on this album. However, given it is Daft Punk I assume it to be quite a good album. Not one I regularly play but am happy to have in my collection.

January 2 2014January 2 2014

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap – AC/DC

Firstly let me announce that I think AC/DC are one of the best bands ever [40 million copies of Back In Black sold]. I love the raw rock sound and the cheeky lyrics. I remember being 17 years old and discovering that there were thirteen AC/DC albums and just being excited at the thought of owning them all. I probably had three albums at that time, Blow Up Your Video being my first.

This album, from 1976, has an excellent ensemble of songs by the gritty Aussie [although there is an argument to say they were British] band. Not a single bad song. Some excellent songs.

Dirt Deeds
Love At First Feel
Big Balls
Rocker
Problem Child
There’s Gonna Be Some Rockin’
Ain’t No Fun
Ride On
Squealer

Big Balls is hilarious although Wikipedia claims it has controversial lyrics but it depends whether you have a dirty mind or not. I’m pretty sure this song is about a costume party [NOT].

Rocker takes the power riff and makes you bounce.

Squealer has a brilliant bass riff and is an altogether brilliant song, for some reason I love it.

Ride On makes me cry.

10/10 for this one.

January 1 2014January 2 2014

Dirty Cash – Reaper

This isn’t really an album. It’s more an EP. Of the eleven songs on the album, seven are the same song just re-mixed. I really like the other Reaper stuff and this is ok. It’s more commercial and less dark/devil-ish. Not really my kind of electronic music but ok nonetheless.

I hope to see Reaper at some point in the future. His songs really mix the darkness and sex.

January 1 2014January 1 2014

Dirt – Alice In Chains

I loved Alice in Chains when I was younger. I still do, but I do think that they haven’t moved on musically. Their latest albums sound very similar to the early stuff.

I bought this at university after seeing Alice in Chains twice in the early 90s. I saw them support Iron Maiden and also support Megadeth. I’m pretty sure both concerts were at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, a great small venue.

This album is just brilliant from start to finish. It’s haunting and cunning. There is not a bad track on this album. You should buy it, or download it, or whatever you do to get music. Spotify? Is that the new thing? Nothing else to say.

It’s worth 10/10.

January 1 2014January 2 2014

47 Ronin

I booked a ticket for this film and thought that the showing time was 18:20. I finished editing my website earlier at 18:15 and left to get to the car, which is never parked close to my house. On the way I looked at my reservation time for the cinema and it said 18:15 showing. This meant I had 5 minutes fewer to get to the cinema than I had thought and I was already late.

It turns out I got to the cinema and in my seat with two trailers to spare. Pretty efficient timing! I managed to miss the adverts and other trailers. While I’m waiting for the film I don’t watch the screen anyway. I read a book on my Kindle app on my phone. I’m currently reading about NASA’s contributions to computational fluid dynamics over the last 50 years. Fascinating.

The film, 47 Ronin.

This is based on a true story, which I’ve just found out [thanks Wikipedia]. It’d be more interesting to create a film about the discovery of this story and its manipulation over time to create societal values. Anyway, this film was ok. Just ok. I haven’t rated it on IMDB yet but when I do it will be a 6/10.

Keanu Reeves. Why? I’m amazed that this guy gets paid for doing what he does. I don’t think I’ve seen him act yet. Well, maybe in Bill and Ted’s? Is he the big name there because everyone else is Japanese and no-one will know them? Or perhaps it’s because he has black hair. Whatever, a good actor he is not. Fortunately the story did not need him to act he just had to stare.

The rest of the cast were good. I particularly liked the witch. I thought she was brilliantly seductive.

Problems [potential SPOILERS]

Lazy editing, or possibly for an American audience. We see the wolf’s eyes and a bit later the witch. Later when Keanu recognises the witch we get a flashback. SERIOUSLY? Are the audience that stupid that they won’t remember the eyes from earlier. I nearly screamed out.
I don’t know where it was filmed but it was stunning and I hope that it wasn’t CGI. The locations were brilliant although at times the backdrops used for studio shots were a bit obvious. See below more details.
MAGIC. Is it necessary to have magic? Isn’t this a good enough story without magic? If I realise I’m watching a fairy tale then I can cope with magic but this seemed a little annoying. The film would have been far superior with a better script without magic but then the effects probably wouldn’t have been needed.
Alien creatures? Really. Lizard people living in an enchanted forest? And, the TEST. Poor writing. It was obvious. Have another go at this one people.
Dutch Island was cool and I liked the idea ~~but it probably never happened~~. I have been reliably informed that it existed, thanks Pom, although its depiction in the film was nothing like the real thing.

Overall this is a film for the modern generation who have loved the Lord Of The Rings and want more of the same. This could have been a brilliant film but failed.

Moral Rights
So much of the film relies on the Japanese codes of honour and trust. I found myself drifting off halfway through into thoughts of moral truths. We, as a society need moral codes and this film and story are there to inform us of these values. We should be truthful, we should be honest, we should care and we should keep our honour. These values come from us being humans and tribal creatures rather than from any book or religion. Religions and their books [and politicians or any two-bit celebrity] seem to be allowed to have their views on moral rights and wrongs. I find this amusing. Surely it’s up to society to decide? For example, when did what the Prime Minister earns become a benchmark for peoples salaries? Blah, blah, blah. Time to stop.

Locations
Have checked with IMDB for the locations of filming and I feel cheated.

January 1 2014January 1 2014

Made Me Laugh

I was having a text conversation with my sister about my lack of mixer drinks for use with Jack Daniels. I tried to say that I’d go and buy some coke but I have fingers that are a bit bigger than my keyboard on the phone. Whoops!

I seriously laughed out loud in my house while alone for a good five minutes. It’s still a giggle when I think about it.

January 1 2014January 2 2014

Diamonds and Pearls – Prince

There was a time when I liked listening to Prince, or whatever his name became. I saw him live on the Diamonds and Pearls tour in Earl’s Court Arena and I was really impressed with the show. The man is a genius. For some bizarre reason I just wanted him to play “Anarchy in the UK”, I think it was his guitar sound, it had that punk edge to it.

This is a good album. It’s different. Not metal and a bit funk and pop, but I still like it. I don’t think you’d get far putting this stuff on at a disco but it is brilliant. It also takes me back to the carefree times of the early 1990s!

My favourites are:

Cream
Gett Off
Willing and Able

I’d rate this 5 stars.

January 1 2014March 11 2014

Devil’s Interval

So, firstly I’m ashamed of the placing in this result table from Gran Turismo 6. Sixth place is pretty shocking. I hate the Kart races, the tracks are generally tight and small and the Karts are somewhat twitchy. Anyway, I’m glad I snapped this one with the phone because I don’t think it’ll happen again.

6th Place with a time difference of 6.666 seconds.

Suck on that!

December 24 2013

The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here – Alice In Chains

Alice In Chains are an awesome band. I find their music haunting and beautiful. I reckon that the first few albums are just brilliant and after that the newer albums seem to sound the same. If I want slow heavy ghostly rock then this is an album I’ll play. It’s a newer album to me and is therefore subject to the Old Dog problem.

Anything by this band is worth a listen.