January 2015 Archives

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Space Internet by Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s SpaceX just got a lot richer, and a lot more interesting. Google and Fidelity Investments have just pumped $1billion into SpaceX, owning roughly 10% of the ambitious company.

Musk plans to use the investment to develop low-Earth orbiting satelites that will bring low cost internet to the world. While low cost internet access is a great thing, that’s just phase I. Phase II involves lining the satelites all the way to Mars, so that when we finally colonise Mars, we’ll have internet access to send back selfies.

Exciting times ahead!

Amazing, Sustainability Comments Off

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Jan

In the last installment of The Hobbit (finally!), Smaug the Smug is reduced to a prologue, couldn’t even last till the opening title!

Well, that’s cos the title no longer contains Smaug, but ‘The Battle of the Five Armies’. I’ll wait while you count the five… yeah, it’s a little confusing.

I used to be a gold hoarder like you, then I took an arrow in the chest

So, Desolation of Smaug left us with Smaug breaking out of Lonely Mountain, gold encrusted, pissed off, and headed straight for Laketown. He razed through almost the entire town before he took an arrow to the chest. With that (quickly) out of the way, the dwarves had little time to celebrate their reclamation of Lonely Mountain, as word of Smaug’s death would spread quickly (via Twitter?) and other factions would come and fight for the gold and pristine views.

As Thorin and gang work overtime to reinforce their entrance, the Elves, Orcs and leftover humans from Laketown come knocking for a cup of tea and more.

So there you have it. The five armies. Wait, there’s only 4 of them: Dwarves, Elves, Humans, Orcs.

Are you able to guess the last “Army”? Yup, it’s the eagles from Dial-An-Eagle service. Uber never stood a chance in Middle Earth.

Uber never stood a chance in Middle Earth

Wait, can we still call it a battle if it’s 4 against 1? Shouldn’t it be called “The Massacre of the Orcs”?

Rating: 7/10

Movie Reviews Comments Off

The Interview

Jan

There’s so much to say about the film ‘The Interview’ that is not about the film, but the circumstances and controversy surrounding it, the Sony hack, it being pulled off theatres initially, then releasing it on a few indie theatres alongside VOD.

But first, let’s get the review out of the way.

In and of itself, The Interview is a mediocre comedy about a bumbling, arrogant talk show host from Skylark Tonight and his producer scoring an interview with Kim Jong Un (because he’s a huge fan of the show), and subsequently coerced by the CIA into making the interview an assassination mission. The usual toilet humour accompanies a Seth Rogen directed/produced film, but This Is The End had much better humour in it.

In my opinion, the best bit was the Eminem cameo right at the start of the film, and things went downhill from there. James Franco acted like he was acting, and Seth was just being Seth. The only laudable actor in this movie is Randall Park, who plays Kim Jong Un as a shy, actually almost likeable dude who just needs his father’s approval, and secretly likes Katy Perry songs (who doesn’t??!).

Definitely not worth getting hacked and having all that sensitive information out in the open for such a film! If you really want to watch something, I’d suggest a re-run of Team America.

Rating: 3/10

Freedom of Speech/Expression needs to be used responsibly

I understand the need for us to be able to freely express ourselves in order to spur creativity, inspiration and innovation. But I think this freedom should not be taken for granted, and certainly not abused.

The plot and depiction of the assassination of Kim Jong Un in The Interview is simply overstepping the line. No wonder he (allegedly) sent an army to hack into Sony. I’d do the exact same thing.

Obama said that Sony shouldn’t have “pulled” the film from theatrical release, and that freedom of expression should not be stifled by threats, what if the opposite had happened?

What if North Korea, or Russia had made a movie that explicitly showed the assassination and facial explosion of Barack Obama in the name of freedom of expression? Would he have sat back and said “Wow Russia, that was a hugely entertaining piece of fictional filmmaking. I am Barack Obama and I endorse this film.”?

It’s one thing to go on SNL and make fun of yourself, but it’s another for an enemy nation (or at least a non friendly) to release a movie about killing (AND ACTUALLY KILLING) your President, and not do anything about it.

Freedom of Speech needs to be accompanied (at all times) with common sense and basic etiquette.

Movie Reviews Comments Off

2014 in review

Jan

2014 marked the start of an entirely new phase in our lives, where we added parenthood to the CV of Life. To tell that story, we first have to go back to February of 2014, when we took a short getaway to Margaret River in Australia.

It was a wonderful, stress-free, thoroughly enjoyable vacation where we ate, drank and generally had lots of idle time to explore the wonderful sights and sounds Margaret River had to offer. You could say it was a farmtastic stay.

Our accommodation of choice was this lovely little farm called Margaret River Hideaway, where we had a cosy little cottage all to ourselves. With Margaret River town just 3km away, driving to and from the farm was a cinch!

Some pictures from the trip:

The. Best. Meal. Ever.

Little did we know, that when we came back from Margaret River, we would bring back more than bellies full of wine! We got pregnant!

Never been happier to hold up a stick of pee

Do I look fat in these?

Since then, it’s been a roller coaster ride of gynae visits, freaking out over our pending parenthood, gushing over our pending parenthood, and watching as many movies as we could before he popped.

Then came the day, 28 Oct 2014.

Seeing him for the first time in the flesh was just the most amazing moment. And although it’s only been 10 weeks, his every movement and growth over this short period of time is nothing short of mesmerising to watch and be a part of.

New dads to be: Be as involved and as helpful as you can be, both for yourself and your wife. Feeding, bathing, diaper changing, cooing, rocking him to sleep… you don’t wanna miss out on any of these moments.

So we’re now a trio! And I can’t wait to do more as a trio!

3’s not a crowd la!

Being Daddy, Musings Comments Off

2014 in review – Film edition

Jan

This year saw a mixed bag of movies, some good, others perhaps not meeting expectations.

Here are my top 10 picks for 2014:

10. The Lego Movie

Essentially a 100 minute lego advertisement, but done so well and with so much heart, we’ll even forgive the tired ‘The Chosen One’ trope. Plus, with the sountrack, everything is indeed awesome!

9. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I

One of the few series that, in my mind, got progressively better ever since the dud that was the first Hunger Games. Mockingjay was my least favourite of the books, but I found the film version of war politicking intriguing.

I still don’t get how Peeta has any kind of chance over Gale though.

8. Godzilla

Yes, Bryan Cranston died less than a third of the way through the film, but let’s be honest. No one goes to a Godzilla movie to watch Bryan Cranston, badass as he may be.

No, people go to a Godzilla movie to watch THIS! Fuck Yeah Atomic Breath!

7. Open Windows

Open Windows is a delightful little indie written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo. If you haven’t heard of him, I suggest watching TimeCrimes, his 2007 time-travel feature debut.

Open Windows stars Elijah Wood as an obsessed fan who bites off more than he can chew when he finds that he has won a dinner date with his favourite actress Jill Goddard (Sasha Grey!?!!).

Plot sounds generic enough, but the conceit of the film is similar to the found footage genre, where most of the action takes place on Elijah Wood’s laptop, via several program windows, hence the title Open Windows.

6. Coherence

Technically a 2013 film, but it was released late in 2013, and I only saw it this year, so I’ll put this film under my list for this year. Another indie gem, a dinner party goes awfully wrong after a comet fly-by opens up parallel universes with parallel dinner parties.

What would you do, if your situation in your universe kinda sucked?

5. Gone Girl

A breakthrough performance by Rosamund Pike, in my opinion. Brilliantly directed by David Fincher, the man who made making a website look exciting.

I’m definitely setting time aside in 2015 to read the book.

4. X-Men: Days of Future Past

One of the best sequences of the film was the rescue of Magneto, heavily dependent on QuickSilver, and it’ll be interesting to see how the same character is depicted in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

DOFP was also crucial in that it connected the 2 separate X-Men series, serving as a sequel to First Class as well as The Last Stand, featuring cast from both with equal-ish screentime.

If DOFP is a sign of things to come, I can’t wait for X-Men: Apocalypse.

3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

I always felt that Cap was one of the weaker characters for the standalone films, and wasn’t too impressed with The First Avenger. But The Winter Soldier totally blew me away with the action, plot, and the overall impact in the aftermath of the film. The pacing never let up, and the action never let me down.

2. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Rise of the Planet of the Apes told of how a certain ALZ-113 virus gave modified intelligence to an ape named Caesar, and how that same virus would be calamitous to mankind.

10 years after the events of Rise, a generation of intelligent apes have made themselves a home and community in Muir Woods, while the human race dwindled and collapsed.

A chance meeting between the remaining humans in San Francisco and the apes and a misunderstanding between them would lead to an impending war. And if the prelude to the all out war could be so intense, sign me up for the actual war please!

Mark down this date. July 29, 2016!

1. Edge of Tomorrow

Tom Cruise dies again and again until he wins. Aside from the ending, everything else about the film was just about perfect. It was a real toss up between this and Dawn for my number one spot, but i’m sorry, in my books, aliens always wins apes.

What were your favourite films of 2014?

I will share some of 2014’s most disappointing films in a future post! Time to feed the baby!

Movie News, Movie Reviews Comments Off

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