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Georgie on the Big Screen

Wow, this is happening a lot sooner than I thought but the first George W. Bush biopic will be released (in the States, nothing about New Zealand) on October 17 this year. It will be directed by Oliver Stone and is called simply W.

Josh Brolin, of No Country For Old Men fame will play the current president. It should be interesting, though I dislike Oliver Stone - a project like this is too tempting to not watch. Especially for Anti-Bushers.

Best Films of 1996

OK, so I complained about 1997 being a shit year but at least I could still get 10 films on a list of movies that I quite like. 1996, while being host to one of my all time favourite films of all time - Fargo (the fourth time that the Coen Brothers make the top spot - I think I'm a fan of those guys), was really disappointing. I can't even manage a top five, if you were to ask me "based on what you've seen from 1996, what would you nominate for best picture?", I would say those three before stummering out something like......... Happy Gilmore? Maybe my problem is I just haven't seen enough films, I've only seen two of the best picture nominees from the Oscars (Jerry Maguire and Fargo).

1. Fargo (Joel & Ethan Coen)
2. Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson)
3. Scream (Wes Craven)
   

Best Movies of 1997

Man, Deconstructing Harry is by far the weakest number one we've had so far. I don't mean to say anything bad about it but I can't believe how weak this year actually was. This does mark Woody Allen's second top finish - it's just a surprising one. While overall I reckon that's an interesting top five, 1997 has proven to be the weakest year so far - I didn't think that'll happen until the 80s.

1. Deconstructing Harry (Woody Allen)
2. Waiting For Guffman (Christopher Guest)
3. Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson)
4. Wintersleepers (Tom Tykwer)
5. The Fifth Element (Luc Besson)
6. Open Your Eyes (Alejandro Amenabar)
   
7. Lost Highway (David Lynch)
   
8. The Castle (Rob Sitch)
   
9. Men In Black (Barry Sonnenfeld)
   
10. Scream 2 (Wes Craven)
    

Best Movies of 1998

What to say? This is one weak year. While 1999 could muster six amazing films, 1998 can only really give up two. Oh well, The Coen Brothers claim their third top spot. Aren't they awesome?

1. The Big Lebowski (Joel & Ethan Coen)
2. Rushmore (Wes Anderson)
3. A Bug's Life (John Lasseter)
4. The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick)
5. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie)
   
6. Antz (Eric Darnell & Tim Johnson)
   
7. The Truman Show (Peter Weir)
8. Pi (Darren Aronofsky)
   
9. American History X (Tony Kaye)
   
10. Pleasantville (Gary Ross)
    

Best Movies of 1999

Out of the 21st Century now and into the 90's. After this point I think the lists are going to start becoming smaller as I become less familiar with each year. This year was one good year, I mean - look at that top six. That's six movies I'm quite fond of.

1. Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze)
2. American Beauty (Sam Mendes)
3. Fight Club (David Fincher)
4. Toy Story 2 (John Lasseter, Ash Brannon & Lee Unkrich)
   
5. Election (Alexander Payne)
   
6. Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson)
   
7. The Matrix (Andy & Larry Wachowski)
   
8. All About My Mother (Pedro Almodovar)
   
9. Office Space (Mike Judge)
   
10. The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola)
    
11. Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer)
    
12. Go (Doug Liman)
    
13. Bowfinger (Frank Oz)
    
14. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Trey Parker)
    
15. Scarfies (Robert Sarkies)
    

Best Movies of the 00's (so far)

As part of my "Favourite Movies Project", I've been going through my favourite movies, year by year. I've just finished going through all of the years in this decade so it's time to take the 112 films I've designated as "noteworthy" and narrow it down to a top 20. Fun times!

1) Adaptation (2002)
(Directed by Spike Jonze, Written by Charlie Kaufman)

Donald Kaufman: Okay, well here's the twist. We find out that, that the killer really suffers from multiple personality disorder, right? See, he's actually really the cop and the girl. All of them are him. Isn't that fucked up?

2) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
(Directed by Michel Gondry. Written by Charlie Kaufman)

Joel: Is there any risk of brain damage?
Howard: Well, technically speaking, the operation is brain damage, but it's on a par with a night of heavy drinking. Nothing you'll miss.

3) Amelie (2001)
(Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Written by Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Guillaume Laurant)

Narrator: With a prompter in every cellar window whispering comebacks, shy people would have the last laugh.

4) The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
(Written & Directed by Sylvain Chomet)

Triplets [singing]: Swinging Belleville rendevouz/ Marathon dancing, doop-de-doo/ Voodoo, can-can, balais, taboo/ in Belleville swinging rendevouz...

5) Lost In Translation (2003)
(Written & Directed by Sofia Coppola)

John: Why do you have to point out how stupid everyone is all the time?

6) Match Point (2005)
(Written & Directed by Woody Allen)

Nola Rice: You're gonna do very well for yourself, unless you blow it.
Chris Wilton: And how am I going to blow it?
Nola Rice: By making a pass at me.
Chris Wilton: And what makes you think that's going to happen?
Nola Rice: Men always seem to wonder.

7) I Heart Huckabees (2004)
(Directed by David O. Russell. Written by David O. Russell & Jeff Baena)

Dawn Campbell: There's glass between us. You can't deal with my infinite nature can you?
Brad Stand: That is so not true. Wait, what does that even mean?

8) O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
(Written & Directed by the Coen Brothers)

Pete: Well hell, it ain't square one! Ain't nobody gonna pick up three filthy, unshaved hitch-hikers, and one of them a know-it-all that can't keep his trap shut.
Ulysses Everett McGill: Pete, the personal rancor reflected in that remark I don't intend to dignify with comment.

9) Donnie Darko (2001)
(Written & Directed by Richard Kelly)

Rose Darko: I don't think telling any woman to forcibly insert an object into her anus is something that should go unpunished.
Edward Darko: I think we should buy him a moped.
Rose Darko: I think we should get a divorce.

10) No Country For Old Men (2007)

(Written & Directed by the Coen Brothers)

Man: Just how dangerous is he?
Carson Wells: Compared to what? The bubonic plague?

11) The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
(Directed by Wes Anderson. Written by Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson)

Eli: I did find it odd when you said you were in love with her. She's married you know.
Richie: Yeah.
Eli: And she's your sister.
Richie: Adopted.

12) The Incredibles (2004)
(Written & Directed by Brad Bird)

Mr. Incredible: Of course I have a secret identity. I don't know a single superhero without one. I mean, who wants the pressure of being super all the time?

13) Ratatouille (2007)
(Written & Directed by Brad Bird)

Django: Food is fuel. You get picky about what you put in the tank, your engine is gonna die. Now shut up and eat your garbage.

14) Secretary (2002)
(Directed by Steven Shainberg. Written by Erin Cressida Wilson)

Peter: Are you doing something sexual?
Lee: Does this look sexual to you?

15) Serenity (2005)
(Written & Directed by Joss Whedon)

Mal: Zoe, the ship is yours. Remember, if anything happens to me; if you don't hear from me within the hour; you take this ship and you come and you rescue me!
Zoe: What? And risk my ship?
Mal: I mean it. It's cold out there, and I don't want to get left.

16) In My Father's Den (2004)
(Written & Directed by Brad McGann)

Celia Steimer: One day, in a town on the edge of the world, the tide went out and never returned. The sea just left without warning.

17) Gosford Park (2001)
(Directed by Robert Altman. Written by Julian Fellowes)

Mary Maceachran: Nobody can stab a corpse and not know it.
Robert Parks: Really? When was the last time you stabbed a corpse?

18) Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
(Directed by Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Davis. Written by Michael Ardnt.)

Frank: Who is that? Nietzsche? So you stopped talking because of Friedrich Nietzsche? Far out.

19) Thank You For Smoking (2006)
(Written & Directed by Jason Reitman)

Heather Holloway: My other interviews have pinned you as a mass murderer, blood sucker, pimp, profiteer and my personal favorite, yuppie Mephistopheles.

20) Juno (2007)
(Directed by Jason Reitman. Written by Diablo Cody)

Paulie: I still have your underwear.
Juno: I still have your virginity.
Paulie: Would you shut up?

Wowsies.

60% of NBA players are bankrupt by five years after their retirement.
(h/t: Marginal Revolution)

Reminds me of a quote from the first couple of pages from the book I'm reading now: Zuckerman Unbound by Philip Roth. Basically, the main character, Zuckerman - a novelist has just released a bestseller and has heaps of money coming his way.

Gone were the days when Zuckerman had only to worry about Zuckerman making money: henceforth he would have to worry about his money making money.

The Optimal Obama Supporter...

...would be a black male under 30 with a college degree.

Well, that's the conclusion I grab from this cool like widget from the NY Times that looks at how the different groups voted... It shows some very clear obvious trends.

Like,

• Men like Obama - Women like Clinton.
• Blacks like Obama - Whites like Clinton.
• The young like Obama - The old like Clinton.
• Graduates like Obama - Non-Graduates like Clinton.

The income is less clear, it's moving slightly in the expected direction (rich like Obama - poor like Clinton) but it's not as clear cut. The poor seem quite divided, the West Virginia poor like Clinton by 65% and the Maryland poor like Obama by 41%. As you move up to the income scales the results become a little more centralised.
(h/t: David Farrar)

The End of my Favourite Cup

I just walked down to the kitchen to find my favourite cup of the last seven years on the bench, it was broken. Why? Was someone merely clumsy? Or is there more sinister elements afoot? Revenge for the mug I broke a couple of days ago maybe?

There was nothing I liked more than to drink ginger beer from that cup. With its blue swirls and frosted style it once belonged to a whole family of four... or six of these beautiful cups which were systematically destroyed until only one remained... man, I wish I named him/her. That cup lasted a good while after its brothers and sisters and has always had a place with me in my flats.

So, I need a new favourite cup. What to do?

On totally unrelated news, I just finished watching the final episode of Arrested Development - now that was one nice way to end the series. Could it be the most incestuous show ever? (with maybe the exception of some soap operas)

Best Movies of 2000

Wow. Weak year. The Coen Brothers grab their second top spot though O Brother is probably the weakest of all the top films so far (with the possible exception of No Country For Old Men - but that needs time to fully cement itself in place. Fact is, the Coen Brothers did their best work in the 90s)

1. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Joel & Ethan Coen)
2. State & Main (David Mamet)
3. Memento (Christopher Nolan)
4. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe)
5. Best In Show (Christopher Guest)
6. Chicken Run (Peter Lord & Nick Park)
   
7. High Fidelity (Stephen Frears)
   
8. Small Time Crooks (Woody Allen)
9. X-Men (Bryan Singer)
10. Dinner Rush (Bob Giraldi)
    

Best Movies of 2001

2001 is the biggest year so far - I've considered 20 films from that year to be noteworthy. The top film, Amelie, would be one of most important films for me ever.

1. Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
2. Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly)
3. The Royal Tenebaums (Wes Anderson)
4. Gosford Park (Robert Altman)
5. Monsters Inc. (Peter Docter, Lee Unkrich & David Silverman)
6. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki)
7. Shrek (Andrew Adamson & Vicky Jensen)
8. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch)
9. Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff)
10. Moulin Rogue! (Baz Luhrmann)
11. Waking Life (Richard Linklater)
12. The Man Who Wasn't There (Joel & Ethan Coen)
13. Ocean's 11 (Steven Soderbergh)
14. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson)
15. Zoolander (Ben Stiller)
16. Y tu mama tambien (Alfonso Cuaron)
17. The Closet (Francis Veber)
18. Rain (Christine Jeffs)
19. The Score (Frank Oz)
    
20. Buffalo Soldiers (Gregor Jordan)
    

Best Movies of 2002

Those first four films on the list are so deliciously weird, 2002 certainly provided some excellent "weird" films that I love so much. Oscar winner Chicago rounds out that top five. Adaptation is the film that made me interested in film, before that I was a fairly apathetic film viewer.

Adaptation and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind makes the second and third Charlie Kaufman penned film to make the top five. George Clooney and Paul Thomas Anderson also make their second apperance in the top five as directors.

1. Adaptation (Spike Jonze)
2. Secretary (Steven Shainberg)
   
3. Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson)
4. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (George Clooney)
5. Chicago (Rob Thomas)
6. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Peter Jackson)
7. City of God (Fernando Meirelles & Katia Lund)
   
8. Catch Me If You Can (Steven Spielberg)
9. The Hours (Stephen Daldry)
   
10. The Bourne Identity (Doug Liman)
    
11. Dirty Pretty Things (Stephen Frears)
    
12. One Hour Photo (Mark Romanek)
13. Ice Age (Chris Wedge & Carlos Saldanha)
    

Best Movies of 2003

Until recently, Scarlett Johansson could have secured herself a second first place finish after Match Point in 2005 but The Triplets of Belleville - an amazing animated french film has displaced her from that honour. Me repeating myself doesn't stop there - Finding Nemo is the third Pixar film to end up in the top five and the fourth to appear in these lists. Tim Burton and the Coen Brothers have also now made two apperances in the top ten.

1. The Triplets of Belleville (Sylvain Chomet)
   
2. Lost In Translation (Sofia Coppola)
   
3. American Splendour (Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini)
   
4. Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich)
   
5. Shattered Glass (Billy Ray)
   
6. Big Fish (Tim Burton)
   
7. Kitchen Stories (Bent Hamer)
   
8. Intolerable Cruelty (Joel & Ethan Coen)
   
9. Goodbye Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker)
   
10. 21 Grams (Alejandro Inarritu)
    
11. X2: X-Men United (Bryan Singer)
    
12. Matchstick Men (Ridley Scott)
    
13. School of Rock (Richard Linklater)
    
14. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Gore Verbinski)
    
15. Bad Santa (Terry Zwigoff)
    

Best Movies of 2004

Ahhh, 2004. My first year of university. Though with the exception of Eternal Sunshine, Mean Girls and Shrek 2 I saw the majority of these films the next year. I remember it as the year of Fahrenheit 9/11 and the Passion of the Christ. Two films that greatly disturbed my experiences with cinema that year, the former for its horrible documentary practises and the latter for highlighting my preference to not watch a film that was solely about someone getting cruificied. 2004 nevertheless turned out to be an important year of cinema for me - especially the film that came in first - one of my most favourite films of all time.

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)
2. I Heart Huckabees (David O. Russell)
3. The Incredibles (Brad Bird)
4. In My Father's Den (Brad McGann)
5. Napoleon Dynamite (Jared Hess)
6. Sideways (Alexander Payne)
7. Night Watch (Timur Bekmambetov)
8. A Very Long Engagement (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
9. Mean Girls (Mark Waters)
10. Garden State (Zach Braff)
11. Shrek 2 (Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury & Conrad Vernon)
12. The Bourne Supremacy (Paul Greengrass)
13. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (Wes Anderson)
14. Primer (Shane Carruth)
    
15. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azakaban (Alfonso Cuaron)
    
16. Team America: World Police (Trey Parker)
    

Best Movies of 2005

Finding a list of movies was a bit harder for 2005 than it was for 2006. Though I haven't seen the most popular film at the Oscars that year: Brokeback Mountain or any foreign film it seems. Nevertheless...

1. Match Point (Woody Allen)
2. Serenity (Joss Whedon)
3. Me & You & Everyone We Know (Miranda July)
4. Good Night & Good Luck (George Clooney)
5. Sin City (Robert Rodrigeuz & Frank Miller)
6. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Nick Park & Steve Box)
7. Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan)
   
8. Capote (Bennett Miller)
   
9. The Squid & The Whale (Noah Baumbach)
   
10. The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Garth Jennings)
    

Top Movie of 2010?

I'm going to make a bold useless prediction right now. The Yiddish Policemen's Union is going to be the best movie of 2010.

Fresh off watching the awesome No Country For Old Men, I was reading up on the Coen Brother's next film: Burn After Reading (trailer below - looks promising) when I found out that a couple of projects down the line, the Coen Brothers intend to adapt Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union which I'm in the middle of reading. I must say, that this is a match made in heaven - I was thinking as I was reading how perfect it will be if the Coen Brothers made a movie from it - it's scheduled to be released in 2010 but knowing reality will probably be delayed - especially as two of their movies will be released before we get to see this. This is one project I'm excited about.

Best Movies of 2006

Looking back at 2006 I think it was a pretty good year for movies. I've managed to come up with a nice big list of cool movies that I quite liked from that year - and still plenty of quality movies I'm sure are out there. Of course these movies all have the benefit of being fresh to me. Most of them I saw only last year. It'll be interesting to see if these movies can handle five years of time.

1. Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris)
   
2. Thank You For Smoking (Jason Reitman)
   
3. The Science of Sleep (Michel Gondry)
   
4. The Prestige (Christopher Nolan)
5. Day Watch (Timur Bekmambetov)
   
6. The Departed (Martin Scorcese)
   
7. Scoop (Woody Allen)
   
8. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
   
9. Casino Royale (Martin Campbell)
   
10. Brick (Rian Johnson)
    
11. The Bothersome Man (Jens Lien)
    
12. A Prairie Home Companion (Robert Altman)
    
13. V For Vendetta (James McTeigue)
    
14. Stranger Than Fiction (Marc Foster)
    
15. Cars (John Lasseter & Joe Ranft)
    
16. Running With Scissors (Ryan Murphy)
    
17. Fast Food Nation (Richard Linklater)
    

Best Movies of 2007

One thing that obsesses me is the constant battle of ranking my favourite things. So I've decided to embark on a journey of ranking my favourite movies of all time. I'm going to do this at a painfully slow pace - year by year. I'll start with last year - not that this list means much as I've yet to see a lot of 2007 movies. I rarely venture to the theatre and mainly watch movies by renting them on $3 or $1 days at the rental places. I've seen a few though - enough to put together a collection of more than ten movies that I enjoyed last year. So I haven't started too badly.

1. No Country For Old Men (Joel & Ethan Coen)
   
2. Ratatouille (Brad Bird)
   
3. Juno (Jason Reitman)
   
4. Sweeney Todd (Tim Burton)
   
5. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
   
6. Eagle vs. Shark (Taika Cohen)
   
7. Planet Terror (Robert Rodriguez)
   
8. Death at a Funeral (Frank Oz)
   
9. Sunshine (Danny Boyle)
   
10. The Bourne Ultimatum (Paul Greengrass)
    
11. Zodiac (David Fincher)
    

Favourite Movies Project

This is going to be an index page for my favourite movies project. Where I intend to track my favourite movies of all time. I'm going to go year by year. I can't remember why anymore... but here's all the links...

Decade by Decade
The 2000s

Best Movies By Year
2007 - No Country For Old Men (Joel & Ethan Coen)
2006 - Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris)
2005 - Match Point (Woody Allen)
2004 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)
2003 - The Triplets of Belleville (Sylvain Chomet)
2002 - Adaptation. (Spike Jonze)
2001 - Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
2000 - O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Joel & Ethan Coen)
1999 - Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze)
1998 - The Big Lebowski (Joel & Ethan Coen)
1997 - Deconstructing Harry (Woody Allen)
1996 - Fargo (Joel & Ethan Coen)

Linky. Well. One Link.

Awesome post on Brain Stab.

Clean Day.

One exam down!

Yesterday saw me finish off my first exam - Economics of Health and Education - and I now have a nice week and a half before my next three - which occur in two days, otherwise known as hell.

So today is Clean Day, my room needed a good clean and it now smells like vacuum cleaner and spray and wipe. My axolotl, Napoleon also needed a clean so I spent an hour doing that. He's now completely stressed out as he hates anyone interfering with his kingdom.

It was also cool how Barack Obama secured the nomination last night. About time - now we got to get onto the election - what an epic one that shall be.

Finally, Arrested Development quote of the moment from the third season. By my favourite character Tobias: Okay, Lindsay, are you forgetting that I was a professional twice over— an analyst and a therapist. The world's first analrapist.

May in Movies

I watched a lot of movies in May. 21 to be exact, that brings my total for the year up to 86. The best movie I watched was The Triplets of Belleville which scored a perfect 10/10 for me.
Coming up next would be the Akira Kurosawa film The Hidden Fortress. This is only the third Kurosawa film I've seen and I must watch some more.
Coming up in third place tied with a 9/10 rating are The Lady Eve (review), To Be or not to Be and No Country For Old Men.
And some special consideration for: Planet Terror (review), Raiders of the Lost Ark (review) and There Will Be Blood.

Happy June

I woke up this morning to the news that we have hit a new month: June. This fact scares the shits out of me. What the hell am I going to do when this month is over? I'm going to be so fucked.

I watched Hairspray last night. I must say that I admire the campy fun, everything else just seemed so forced - the acting, the script, the songs, the computer generated helicopter shot at the start. How are you supposed to have fun when you're being forced to?

Murder

Former University of Otago lecturer Clayton Weatherston has been committed for trial after pleading not guilty to murdering ex-girlfriend Sophie Elliott.

From the ODT.

Depositions are over for the Sophie Elliott murder which I've been following since day one. As an economics student at Otago myself I found this quite shocking.

It's interesting that Weatherston has elected to plead not guilty. I'm no lawyer but the evidence seems pretty damning and everyone I've talked to seems convinced of his guilt. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

This could be quite dull

Mr English raised the issue in Parliament today, and said if Mr Benson-Pope urged people to vote for Labour it would amount to election advertising under the Electoral Finance Act.

From the ODT.

You know. I really hope that this election isn't all about violations of the Electoral Finance Act. I can't think of a more boring way to conduct an election.

Which is better?

vs

My Favourite Paragrah of the Moment.

I would have just said, "the man was fat" but I guess that's why I'm not a novelist.

Rabbi Heskel Shpilman is a deformed mountain, a giant ruined dessert, a cartoon house with the windows shut and the sink left running. A little kid lumped together, a mob of kids, blind orphans who never laid eyes on a man. They clumped the dough of his arms and legs to the dough of his body, then jammed his head down on top. A millionaire could cover a Rolls-Royce with the fine black silk-and-velvet expanse of the rebbe's frock coat and trousers. It would require the brain strength of the eighteen greatest sages in history to reason through the arguments against and in favor of classifying the rebbe's massive bottom as either a creature of the deep, a man-made structure, or an unavoidable act of God. If he stands up, or if he sits down, it doesn't make any difference in what you see.

From Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union. A book I picked up at the library randomly based solely on the cover. I hadn't even heard of Michael Chabon at the time. I was then further convinced by all the praise and the crazy sounding plot.

I've been very impressed so far.

The end of one particular kind of madness.

It's over.

Internal assessment is over. Such a thing just makes me so happy.

This essay I wrote ended up being one I just couldn't care about. I am so bored with a topic like "media imperialism". It's my own fault really, what could I expect after doing papers like "understand contemporary media", "political communications in new zealand" and "theorising digital media". I'm burned out on the media after doing my fourth paper on it.

It's a relief that this is my final semester (providing nothing awful happens.... again.). Though it should be added I still find all aspects of microeconomics to be fascinating - macro bores me.

I stayed up until 4am writing before deciding to go to bed, I think I should have just done what I did last week and stay up all night fueled by unhealthy amounts of coffee but I decided to sleep. I woke up and felt ruined for the rest of the day. And today. I felt pretty good last week - I'm clearly not up for sleeping 4-5 hours at a time. It's either none or nine.

After handing in the essay I was so tired that I made my way to the AV center in the library and just watched Battlestar Galactica for four and a half hours. I had recently found out it was in the library and heard it was good so I thought I'll give it a shot. I don't know if it was the crazy talking but it was pretty fucking good. I totally want to watch more.

The way home was surreal, it was raining and everything just seemed weird, from the polynesian singers who had hidden themselves in some crevice of the postmodern library outside to the pot smokers who meet every friday at four o'clock or something who were just standing there - smoking in the rain. Just seemed weird to me.

The next couple of days will be dedicated to relaxation. Before I start getting into exam prep. The madness has only just began.

Review: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Well, the new one has had its premiere in Cannes so I thought I'd give the first one a watch. Introduce myself to the whole Indiana Jones thing. It's good for someone who studies pop culture to actually acquaint myself with some of it.

The most interesting thing about the movie for me though, watching it 27 years after it's been released was that I felt that I had watched it all before - everything seemed so familiar. My theory is that the entire movie has been parodied and referenced by so many different people that you could actually reconstruct the entire movie from them. The first place you'll start would be The Simpsons and then you'll move on.

The movie itself was great - everything you could want from an action film really. And what most action films have been aspiring to do since. I'll have to grab a copy of the second and watch it as soon as I can me thinks.

8.5/10

Cake & Lentil Loaf

It was my turn to cook last night... I managed the cheapest night of the year so far. Spending a mere 59c on new ingredients and using stuff we already had like brown lentils (about $1 worth), carrot (30c?), 1 egg (30c maybe?) and a couple of other ingredients such as herbs to make lentil loaf. Throw in some rice and mixed veges and you got one of the cheapest student meals out there.

Also made a chocolate cake on my flatmate's orders. She bought all the ingredients, I supplied the labour. Turned out alright.

Talking about cake... because I haven't posted a video in a while. Here's the music video for Crowded House's Chocolate Cake song (from their Woodface album)

Little Rocket Ships.

Calvin and Hobbes.

Hunting Zebras.

Pearls Before Swine.

Who even cares?

Why must the likes of TV3 rabbit on about the "golden rules" of politics? Apparently Phil Goff has broken them by acknowledging that Labour are behind in the polls and that they might lose the election and by discussing leadership after Helen Clark steps down.

What are these golden rules? They're just a buzz-phrase that reporters/journalists throw out that have no real significance in, well, anything. Phil Goff does something different, like stating the obvious and suddenly he's broken the golden rules. He might as well have raped a table. The media are just trying to make a mountain out of a molehill (to use an often-used phrase).

It's a pity that we live in an environment where the media are looking to grab onto anything to make a story out of. It would be so much nicer to live in a world where things were less sensationalised and rather have more intelligent discussion going on. I guess this just doesn't add up to big dollars for the media though. Pity.

One can hope?

National leader John Key wants to have a referendum on MMP. While he didn't say whether it will be simply MMP vs FPP or with STV thrown in it is still scary. While I don't actually object to there being a referendum on the subject (it seems like a reasonable one to me) and while I don't think that FPP will be voted back in. A referendum on the subject sends chills down the part of my spine that is interested in electoral systems. The prospect of returning to FPP seems awful. MMP may have its oddities but FPP is a system that delivers results like:

• The 1978 General Election. Labour gets 40.4% of the vote compared to National's 39.8% but National wins anyway by 11 seats. The Social Credit party manages to get 16.1% but only one seat to show for it.
• The 1981 General Election. Again, Labour beats National in the popular vote but still loses to National by 4 seats. The Social Credit gets even more of the vote - 20.65% any only manages to increase their seats by one.

So, we have a system that allows a party that gets less votes than another to win? Some may accuse of MMP of allowing this to happen (i.e. in a situation say in 1996, where NZ First could have signed up with Labour/Alliance combination) - the fact remains that those parties in power would have still represented the majority of the population.

I could spend a while discussing the negatives of a FPP system. Idiot/Savant has a large number of posts about MMP here that can be read. The main problems I have with MMP is the 5% threshold (which should be lowered) and the overhang seats (excellent example: the Maori Party) which affect the proportionality of the seats.

The Newspapers have seemed to all run editorals on the subject: my "favourite" is from the Hawke's Bay Today by Louis Pierard which attacks the existence of minor parties as the major failing of MMP, a system that, according to Pierard, makes a mockery out of our politics and takes honour and dignity out of the system.

Bah, that's enough for me.

Didn't know it was that bad...

Unknown to me, I'm on ACT's mailing list and I got an e-mail today from them asking for my vote. One bit of the e-mail was interesting..

The average New Zealand worker is now $450 a week poorer than the average Australian worker.

If we were a state of Australia, we'd be the poorest - $100 a week poorer than Tasmania.

If we were a state of the USA, we'd be 51st and last - $120 a week poorer than Mississippi.

I must say, I didn't know it was that bad. If I could be bothered I'd be tempted to check those figures. Seems a bit dodgy. I did do a little looking about Mississippi on wiki though. They were once the fifth richest state in the USA. That's what slave labour can do for you.

Joss Whedon is back!

Joss Whedon, the man behind some of my favourite TV shows of all time like Buffy and Firefly is working on a new show: Dollhouse. A trailer of which can be seen here though the show's not due to appear until January next year. Now that is a bummer.

This is probably my most anticipated new series for now, along with Alan Ball's new series True Blood which will be premiering the 7th of September in the States (according to wiki anyway).

Such a long time... sigh...

More Pearls Before Swine

After finding out about Pearls Before Swine the other day I thought I'll post a couple more...

Truth.

From PHD Comics. I tend to deviate between Mid-Center, Nearest Exit and Against the Wall.

Hehehehe

It felt so good to get a sleep after doing the all-nighter, I'm still a little screwed up from it. My hands are shaking a little, I'm finding myself walking around aimlessly a lot and I keep getting words wrong but I'm sure that'll all pass soon. It needs to, because I've got more stuff due next friday.

I found out about comic Pearls Before Swine from a post by Scott Adams and up at the top is today's. I like it.

10am

Argghhhhhhhh. This all nighter has left me feeling wasted.

Luckily I don't have far to go. I've finished essay number one and have about 800 words to go on essay number two and I'll be all done...

And still have 6 hours to go. 8 cups of coffee consumed. Yeeech!

8am

After taking an hour break to go home and eat I am now just back over where I was before I decided to be a moron and click two wrong buttons in succession.

Nearly finished one. Start next one soon.

We have 8 hours to go.

6am

Ten hours to go.

In my sleep-deprived state I have just wiped out 500 words by forgetting to save.

I hate things.

2am

It's 2am in the morning. I'm on four cups of coffee and have 14 hours to write an additional 1000 words for one essay and start and finish another 1000 word essay. Why do I do this to myself?

I wonder if I'll do it next week when I have a big essay and a decently sized assignment due on Friday. Sigh.

Diablo Cody's Thoughts.

Am going to watch a movie in my room tonight. I have a recommendation from Spielberg(!) in my bag. (Who is this Fellini dude, anyhow?)

Diablo Cody's Twitter is an interesting read. What I expect from the writer of Juno really.

Template change... again.

Like the title... I can't stay happy with a template so I did the old switcheroo.

Review: Spider-Man 2 (2004)

God, when did Spider-Man become so fucking emo?

**spoilers!**
OK, we're two years after the events of the first film, a film that I liked and it appears that Peter has not moved on emotionally at all. He still wants to fuck Mary Jane and every single time he sees her it just seems to open up some emotional wound for him that causes him to go for some emo drifting around New York City. As Peter Parker he acts as a seriously sad bitch, he has no money, he's nearly failing class and he works for a man that demonises him. Things seem to be going well for everyone else but everyone else is also miserable, Harry still wants a hug from his dead father, auntie blames herself for her husband's death, Mary Jane wants to fuck Peter but he's in emo-land so she settles for an astronaut.

Are you serious? An astronaut? Do we still send people into outer space?

There's a villian called Dr. Octopus and he's crazy... like the last villian. Peter decides giving up everything he wants isn't worth being Spider-Man so he throws his little uniform away and becomes a nerd instead with spiffing glasses. Crime rises but Peter doesn't care, he can now finally have his shot with Mary Jane, but tough luck pal. She's getting fucking married. You knew that. He tries to convince her with a smashing argument but she is somehow not convinced.

The entire plot becomes ridiculous as the movie progresses. Scenes full of plot holes arise, for instance: no one (including Mr. Super Spider Senses) notices that a man with four huge metalliac arms enters a bank until he thows open the vault door. Later in the film, the said man with the metalliac arms is given one clue (Peter Parker) to find Spider-Man and then KILLS him. Oh, wait, he didn't. Because Peter Parker has super powers. Right. That was lucky otherwise you would have killed your only clue and then you wouldn't have got your precious whatever that glowing shit was.

And don't get me started on the ending. Don't get me started on that awful speech that is repeated throughout the film. Don't get me started on the phrase "with great power comes great responsiblity". Don't get me started on the useless sequences.

We should just talk about J.K. Simmons. He's fucking awesome. I wish the rest of the movie could just live up to him.

I'll finish with a picture... from the first movie because that was so much better.

Quality Journalism from Jon Stewart

Lee Sigelman @ The Monkey Cage has a post commenting on a report by the "Project for Excellence in Journalism" on The Daily Show. (which screens in NZ on C4 Tue-Fri 10pm)

The Daily Show is one of my favourite shows but the idea that it should be taken as journalism is laughable. It's a comedy show that works as a meta-text rather than an actual text as it spends most of its time looking at the media's coverage of events rather than the actual event.

This report happened because in a poll of which journalists were admired the most, host Jon Stewart came in fourth. Really, this is reflective of the state of the rest of media rather than on the Daily Show. The questions that the report should be asking is why does no one admire the media anymore?

An interesting stat though on the front page...

Daily Show viewers are highly informed, an indication that The Daily Show is not their lone source of news. Regular viewers of The Daily Show and the Colbert Report were most likely to score in the highest percentile on knowledge of current affairs.

Seems that people who watch the show are quite likely to get their news from other sources as well and are able to distinguish between satire and reality.

The conclusions of the report seem to be: The Daily Show has a skewed focus on Washington politics and can completely ignore other big stories (such as the Virginia Tech shootings - with good reason, there is nothing funny about that). The Daily Show also has a liberal bias, the show producers say this is because the show is anti-establishment. It'll be interesting to see if the show changes if Obama wins the White House in November.

Finally, I pulled up the Wikiquote page for The Daily Show, it has a section that has some taglines. Let's see how The Daily Show defines itself:

• More people get their news from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart... Than probably should.
• The Daily Show - the only news program with no credibility left to lose.
• The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. We're getting a helicopter... soon.
• The Most Important News Show... Ever.

What a film that could have been...

Studying at the moment at 1am in the computer room on campus for my Robert Altman essay that is due on Friday, about three times now its been mentioned that he was dropped for the Ragtime film which turned out (apparently) rather average. I would have so loved to see an Altman version of Ragtime. Pity Altman's dead now.

Awful Policy

ACT founder and candidate the Hon Sir Roger Douglas said ACT would make the first $10,000 tax-free for full-time income earners, and inflation-index tax brackets to restore 2000 values.

-ACT

(h/t: Deborah @ The Hand Mirror)

How do you justify giving the tax break only to full time workers? Is part time work not important? Not even a little? As Deborah points out this is a spit in the face to anyone that looks after children. This policy completely distorts incentives towards full time work. Sure, that may not seem bad but kinda assumes that everyone can be fitted into a nice little homogeneous box that says that full time work is best for everyone. It's not. I used to kinda like ACT, it appealed to the inner right winger inside me but this policy seems to go against what the likes of Rodney Hide stand for - especially their rhetoric concerning 'choice' - I thought ACT would be the last party that would try to dictate how people can work through the tax system. I am very confused by this policy.

In terms of the other issue raised by this press release - tax bracket creep. I'm in favour of it and I thought it was already in place. A bit of research found that it is - just not to the extent that ACT wants it. It was announced in 2005 and the first adjustment would take place back in the 31st of March 2008 - only covering the period between the 1st of April 2005 and the 31st of March 2008. ACT wants it to cover the period going back to 2000. I'd be seriously more cautious doing that.

I do think that the tax brackets should be increasing by the rate of inflation every year. Not every three years in an attempt to build up a nice little stockpile for election year.

Man... long boring post. One question, did National increase the tax brackets in the 90s? That's something I want to find out.

Album of the Moment

The album: Hello Young Lovers by The Sparks. Released in 2006. This album is so weird in its theatrics that its impossible to become fully engrossed in their spinning web of irony. Or if, you're not into that - you'll probably find the whole thing rather stupid.

I've got two youtube videos here. One is a music video for one of the singles of the album (Dick Around - this is a shortened version of the song)

And their guest appearance on the Gilmore Girls.

Stupid Vicious Circle

The sad thing is how true it is sometimes. Not this week... I hope.

So confused right now

• I have a test at 7pm
• I study up until then, sending a text message to my flatmate about 15 minutes before test starts saying "i'm screwed"
  
• I arrive. I'm a minute early. But everyone has already started on their tests.
  
• 8.15pm, the 15 minute warning before the end of the test arrives much sooner than expected. End result: I finish 29 marks worth of the questions out of 50.
  
• I come home and something doesn't feel right. All that I do though is go to the video store to return The Triplets of Belleville.
  
• I suddenly come to a realisation of what's going on. I get back home and knock very loudly on my flatmate's door to check when I sent that text.
  
• As I expected: 7.15pm
• So I somehow lost the ability to read clocks and mistook 7pm for 7.30pm. I'm very annoyed with myself. And very confused.
• I'm also probably fucked. I needed 40% to get terms and I doubt I achieved that. I think I answered the questions fairly well but 20 out of 29? God I hope I did.
  

Quick Film Reviews: The Procrastination Edition

I was meant to be busy this week so I procrastinated and watched a whole bunch of films.

The Triplets of Belleville (2003 - Sylvain Chomet)
I gave two films 10/10 last year - Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid and Band of Outsiders and this becomes the first film this year to receive that rating. Every single frame was injected with so much energy and originality that I was giddy for the entire 81 minutes. Finding Nemo, a film I quite liked beat this one for the Oscar of best animated feature. Nemo should have been CRUSHED. But oh well; not everyone's cup of tea I guess. To emphasise the point: 10/10

Mission Impossible III (2006 - J.J. Abrams)
Having not seen the first two I don't really know what to compare this too. As an action flick I thought it worked quite well. 7.5/10

Cars (2006 - John Lasseter & Joe Ranft)
Pixar's weakest film to date. But still quite lovable and pretty. Still good. 8/10

Priceless (2006 - Pierre Salvadori)
Lots of expensive stuff on display. Everything looks pretty and its fun some of the time if it wasn't for that dull predictable plot. And Audrey Tautou, one of my favourite actresses after Amelie looks so skinny, was she always like that? 6/10

Planet Terror (2007 - Robert Rodrigeuz)
Now this was fun. Pure fun. Delivered exactly what they promised. Need to see Tarantino's Death Proof now. I read that the fake trailer at the beginning is actually going to be made into a real movie. Now that is awesome. 8.5/10

The Conversation (1974 - Francis Ford Coppola)
Part of the New Hollywood in the 70s. Coppola made this between the first two Godfather films. Interesting thriller. 8/10

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936 - Frank Capra)
I always liked that Gilmore Girls by Paris when she is in Stars Hollow for the first time and describes it as a place "that would even make Frank Capra throw up". This is one of those films with those Capra idealistic characters that are so pure and innocent and full of integrity that it'll make you throw up. Other examples is Jimmy Stewart from It's a Wonderful Life and Jimmy Stewart from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I'm sure he's got a few more movies that have these characters. If they weren't so lovable in their integrity this film will be awful but Gary Cooper does well here. 8/10

The Lady Eve (1941 - Preston Sturges)
I'm still trying to work out what happened in the end there. It kind of confuses me. No judgement yet.

Thank You For Smoking

Money...

No Right Turn talks about social dividends and Universal Basic Incomes here. I've always loved this idea. A pity that no one implements so that we can see if it works in the real world.

As an aside, he also talks about the Qantas Media Awards in another post. (A congratulations to No Right Turn for being nominated) But it's nice that the Otago Daily Times is no longer winning Best Newspaper in the country. Because, quite frankly, it's not. And (for the last five years at least) it was never the Best Newspaper.

One Man Band

Pixar short film from 2005. I love these guys.

Suplerative Simpsons: Sideshow Bob Roberts

I find it funny how the people on SNPP seem to differ wildly on their views on particular episodes. . The reviews section includes "terrible" and "SUCKED really, really, really bad" amongst the other reviews and some even seemed "offended" by the attacks on the Republican party.

Being a loopy fruity left winger I loved them. Though there were all soft satirical jabs. I fail to see how they could be offensive.

The basic plot of this episode is as follows: Sideshow Bob (my favourite Simpsons character of all time) is released from prison by Mayor Joe Quimby after some grassroots support for Bob is generated by a right wing talk radio host, Bob is then enlisted by the Republican party to run against Quimby in the latest mayoral election which he wins.

Some of the classic lines...

Barlow: Monty, I'm way ahead of you. If you'll just open that door you'll see the next mayor of Springfield.
[door opens to reveal a water cooler; everyone applauds]
[the cooler bubbles]
Senator: What'd it say?
Barlow: No, no, no, Bob. Bob, come in!
Bob: [enters wrapped in a US flag] A fine "Mahoke" to you all.
Hibbert: Why, he's even better.
Ranier: I agree. I like the human touch.

Bob: That was a big mistake, Bart. No children have ever meddled with the Republican Party and lived to tell about it.

TV Commercial: Mayor Quimby supports revolving door prisons. Mayor Quimby even released Sideshow Bob -- a man twice convicted of attempted murder. Can you trust a man like Mayor Quimby? Vote Sideshow Bob for mayor.

Barlow: Mayor Quimby, you're well-known, sir, for your lenient stance on crime. But suppose for a second that your house was ransacked by thugs, your family tied up in the basement with socks in their mouths, you try to open the door but there's too much blood on the knob...
Quimby: What is your question?
Barlow: My question is about the budget, sir.

Bart: You were just Barlow's lackey.
Lisa: You were Ronny to his Nancy!
Bart: Sonny to his Cher!
Lisa: Ringo to his rest of the Beatles!

And the best one...

Bart: We want the truth!
Bob: You want the truth? You can't handle the truth. No truth-handler, you. Bah! I deride your truth-handling abilities.
Judge: Will you get to the point?
Bob: Only I could have executed such a masterpiece of electoral fraud. And I have the records to prove it! Here, just look at these -- [pulls out binders and floppy disks] each one a work of Machiavellian art.
Judge: But why?
Bob: Because you need me, Springfield. Your guilty conscience may force you to vote Democratic, but deep down inside you secretly long for a cold-hearted Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king. That's why I did this: to protect you from yourselves. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a city to run.
Judge: Bailiffs, place the mayor under arrest.
Bob: What? Oh yes, all that stuff I did.

Cool Comics

From Dilbert & PHD Comics.

New Template MADNESS

I changed the template. This officially counts as procrastination.

I need to get ready for a four o'clock class me thinks.

Best President Ever

OK, so Josiah Bartlet was fictional. But he was an economist, a fairly left wing economist at that - which makes him pretty rare but not unknown.

He wrote a book called Theory and Practice of Macroeconomics in Developing Countries and that is just cool.

It'll be nice if we had an American presidential candidate who didn't sign up to bad economic policies. Such as McCain and Clinton's support for the Gas Tax holiday. Obama has nothing to do with it but he seems like a lightweight.

Oh well. I liked this video from The Colbert Report. And this from the Dilbert Blog.