DVD Review: Touching the Void

The true story, told in interviews and well-done re-enactments, of Joe and Simon, two young mountain climbers who tackle a treacherous 21k foot mountain in the Andes. After a hard climb to the summit, tragedy strikes on the way down when Joe shatters his right leg, effectively condemning him to death high on the mountain. The two desperately struggle to continue the descent together, but after another accident in which Simon believes Joe is killed, Joe is left to descend the mountain alone.

The cinematography of this DVD is simply incredible, and is worth the cost of rental just by itself. The shots of the majestic Andes are breathtaking. The interviews and re-enactments are very well done and the story they tell, of one man's will to survive that can only be described as superhuman, will keep you on the edge of your seat until the end.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Short Book Review: Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

In the 25th century, your consciousness can be stored in a "cortical stack", which is attached to the base of your skull. When death occurs or you get old and have the money, you can be downloaded into a new body, called a "sleeve", or imprisoned in a virtual world. Pretty handy. Takeshi Kovacs, a former member of a the U.N. special forces unit called the Envoys is removed from his virtual prison on another world, and downloaded to a sleeve on Earth. He is given a deal, solve the murder of a wealthy businessman and get paroled, or return to prison. The man who hires him is the murder victim, still walking around thanks to regular off-site backups, but unaware of what happened to him between the time of the last backup and his murder. Kovacs takes the deal and diligently investigates a murder that the local police are convinced was suicide.

This novel is both a post-cyberpunk tour of Earth and a solid detective novel. There is an interesting mystery as to who murdered the business man, and a good subplot in that the sleeve Kovacs is wearing is that of the lover of the policewoman who initially investigated the case. The lover, a cop himself, is serving time in a virtual prison for corruption, while Kovacs is walking around in his body. The ending was just OK, but the plot twists and turns leading up to it were excellent.

Rating: 4 stars

Finland's Answer to Kmac

Here is a pretty wacky video of some crazy Fin strapping rockets to his legs, stuffing fuel bladders in his pants, and jumping out of a balloon. This has "K-man home project" written all over it. Be sure to record the results on your CVS disposable video camera.

Next Year's Oscar Winner?

Link.

What Happened to Pi Day?

I can't believe the authors of this blog failed to mention Pi Day (March 14). I know at least one of the people who posts here fancies himself a Pi expert, often referring to himself as "Mr. Pi" or "Pi Face" and attracting females by reciting Pi to many digits. I guess the fraud has been revealed.

Short Book Review: The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker

Sub-titled "The Modern Denial of Human Nature", this book deals with evolutionary psychology and the controversy it creates. The author starts with a history of the "Nature vs. Nurture" debate, starting from Hobbes and Rousseau, and ending up at modern feminism. He explores the growing scientific consensus the Nature is dominant and the fierce opposition this had caused on both the left and right.

Much of this book deals with the politics surrounding evolutionary psychology. Pinker does discuss some of the aspects and implications of genetically dominated behavior, which is the most interesting part of the book. The history of the debate and the current politics surrounding it is also interesting and well done, but for deep insight into how genetics affect behavior, "The Moral Animal" by Robert Wright is the better choice.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

P.S. For you parents out there, the book makes clear that between their peer group and genetics, you have essentially no input into how your kids turn out, so you might as well quit trying.

P.P.S. A couple days after a certain Filipino friend mentioned that he was worried about his young son playing with dolls, I read a brief passage in the book where the author mentions that taking dolls away from your son has no impact on whether or not he turns out gay. Then Pinker lowers the boom in a casual aside mentioning that there are studies that show boys who play with dolls are more likely to turn out gay. I didn't have the heart to tell my friend.

Thumper

This picture frightens me on a fundamental level. It touches something deep in the brain stem, triggering sweating, increased heart rate, and anxiety. Classic flight response. If you'll excuse me, I need a few shots of tequila.

Review: How William Shatner Changed the World.

Overall, an enjoyable romp through Sci-Fi culture.
Hosted by Shatner himself, strong in the beginning, but weaker in the second hour as ST:NG, Voyager, DS9, and Enterprise were analyzed.

As we all know, Star Trek is about hope for the future. It’s about technology helping mankind reach it’s fullest potential. This being the creative power of the cult classic. But we live in a post-Star Trek world now as all the franchises have phased out of our space-time continuum. This, despite an amazing television revival of drama in the '90s such as Riker growing and shaving a beard, and the Heisenberg compensator (devised just to keep the nerds hungry for more). Such an amazing cult hit, but why the down-fall? Shatner rightly places the blame on Roddenberry himself. Gene Roddenberry's selfish act of dying opened the door for younger writers some of whom had very un-Roddenberry-like blue goatees. These writers did not share the original vision of the future being be more or less like Connecticut; and with Gene out of the picture, darkness crept in. Technology was not so great anymore and people did not always get along. This dark future trend started off strong with the Borg, but ultimately ended with a gay theme song and a captain who was way too "Quantum Leapy" to foreshadow James Tiberius Kirk.

People voted with their eyeballs. Turns out we want escapist TV to be more than a morality tale of our impending doom, we want slick tech and the girl in the foil bikini. Always have; always will. Cell phones, ipods, computers in the palm of your hand- These things came to fruition because the nerds who invented them saw Star Trek and wondered “Yeah, why not?” But those days are over now, so I guess we’re screwed. And that's how William Shatner changed the world.

Rating:
· 1 Star for William Shatner driving around in an Aston Martin making fun of himself.
· 1 Star for interviewing real scientists who were inspired by Star Trek as children. e.g., NASA guys, the inventor of the cell phone, Non-invasive surgery guys, SETI guy, the guy who wrote the Physics of Star Trek, and the British nut with the chip in his arm.
· Additional 1/2 star for making fun of them too, and getting them to make fun of themselves.
· 1/2 star for telling us that Bones' tri-corder was a salt shaker, and that the transporter was invented because the models for the shuttle crafts were late.
· 1 Star for mentioning Paul Allen and the SFM in Seattle where Kirk's chair resides.
· -1 Star for no Salma Hayek or alien equivalent.

Result: 4 out of 5 stars

Operation Biscuit Update

Phase one complete. (Darth Tater included for scale)

How William Shatner Changed the World

I need someone with the History channel to watch this and report back. I have to know what this guy has to say.

Clarification of Texas Hunting Law

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department issued a statement today saying Vice President Cheney broke no law by shooting a lawyer instead of a quail.

A TPWD spokesman noted that, in Texas, lawyers are not considered game creatures, and are thus not subject to seasonal limitations or bag limits. It was further noted that lawyer hunting was encouraged as the state is overrun with the pesky creatures.

A local food critic said that, contrary to rumor, lawyers do not taste like chicken, but rather like bovine dung which is a major component of their composition. Below is a complete listing of the regulations.....

Texas 2005-2006 Hunting Regulations for Attorneys

1. Any person with a valid Texas hunting license may harvest attorneys.
2. Attorneys may be taken with traps and deadfalls. Currency may not be used as bait.
3. Attorneys may not be killed with a motorized vehicle. If accidentally struck, the hunter should move the carcass to the roadside, and proceed to a car wash.
4. It is unlawful to chase, herd or harvest attorneys from a motor vehicle, watercraft or aircraft. Marked police vehicles may be used as shooting platforms.
5. It is unlawful to shout, "Whiplash, Ambulance,or Free Booze" for the purpose of trapping attorneys.
6. It is unlawful to hunt attorneys within 100 yards of Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, or Infiniti dealerships.
7. It is unlawful for a hunter to disguise himself as a reporter, drug dealer, female law clerk, sheep, accident victim, physician, bookie, or tax accountant for the purpose of hunting attorneys.
8. Care should be used so as not to endanger any remaining species. We would not want a repetition of the disaster that followed the "no limit" season on the sub-species, "Honest Lawyers". That particular variety is near extinction and excessive harvesting could diminish the chances for the survival of the Bill of Rights

Short Book Review: Exultant by Stephen Baxter

In the distant future, humans have been at war for millennia with the Xeelee, a mostly unknown alien race with near god-like technology. Fighter pilot Pirius disobeys standard procedure and manages to save his ship during a battle near the galactic core. Due to his faster-than-light drive, he returns to his base two years before he left. Both he and his younger self are court martialed, with the "older" Pirius sent to the front as an infantryman, and the "younger" Pirius being collected by a government bureaucrat, who has a plan to end the war, and returned to Earth.

I generally enjoy Stephen Baxter's novels because they are filled with "big" ideas, and this one is no exception. In most SF with FTL travel, the author ignores one of the side effects of traveling beyond the speed of light, that there will be conditions where closed time-like curves occur, and causality is violated. In this novel, time travel is fairly common, with ships arriving from the future on a regular basis. The information from the future is used in the planning and fighting of the war.

Most of the book is a travelogue, as the younger Pirius goes around the solar system of the distant future, working on the plan to end the war. The characterization and plot are OK, but not anything noteworthy. As always with Baxter, it's the ideas and imagination that make this book worth reading. Note that this is actually the second novel in a series with "Coalescent" being the first. It is not necessary to have read "Coalescent" (which takes place in modern day Earth) to enjoy "Exultant".

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Hypersonic Magma

And so it begins. I don't think it's too late to develop some sort of action plan to ensure that the Yoshimitsu blog survives the coming catastrophe. In retrospect, maybe Seattle wasn't such a great idea after all. And Kendall and I being in the same geographic area is a big no-no. One of us is going to have to move to Tibet. And none of us should ever be on the same airplane flight. Or have lunch in the same Indian restaurant.