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Environment / Re: Merkel visits Canadian scientists; underlining climate policy differences
« on: August 15, 2012, 07:11:20 PM »
Germany has a Green Party that is "srs bzns", running one of Germany's largest states, actually (BaWü). Also, environmentalism of a certain sort satisfies, um, certain unsatisfied deep cultural imperatives in Germany, to the point of silliness in my opinion. As in, you can label anything "Bio" and Germans will buy it.
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Politics / Re: Quebec summer elections
« on: August 10, 2012, 01:10:06 PM »
It seems to me that Quebec's two major parties, like in the rest of the world, do not make for very good choices. The Liberal party for obvious reasons. But the PQ has baggage too that I think sometimes enables the Liberals to win.
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News / Re: Clampdown on Refugees, from Vancouver to Montréal
« on: June 30, 2012, 05:30:26 PM »
The European attitude towards Roma is one of those strange blind spots. It's much worse than the attitude towards any other minority, in some ways,
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Banter / Re: What are you doing?
« on: June 12, 2012, 07:17:20 PM »
Re Prometheus.
So, without spoiling too much (I hope), here's the biggest plot hole in Prometheus. It's right at the very beginning. Once they arrived, why didn't they first explore the terrain remotely? They clearly had the technology. The valley-coming-up-after-the-mountains bit was beautiful but pretty much destroyed any plausibility. They could and should have mapped the whole thing out from orbit. Yes, you want to see it yourself. But it turned into a Star-Trekkian "away team".
The second (biggest) plot hole was when they decided to go have a chat with Special Magic Unicorn. If you are going to meet Special Magic Unicorn, you had better bring a pretty big Special Magic Unicorn net. Special Magic Unicorns are always unpredictable creatures, you know, and this one would obviously know much better how to work the technology.
But, if you're worried about all that, you're watching the wrong genre. This is not an Alien movie, even if it is billed as one. Think Lovecraftian "Dead and dreaming". The *most* important point was the reaction of Special Magic Unicorn. I'm torn on whether I would have liked to have heard what David said, and while I would have liked a longer conversation, what better sequel bait to leave?
So, without spoiling too much (I hope), here's the biggest plot hole in Prometheus. It's right at the very beginning. Once they arrived, why didn't they first explore the terrain remotely? They clearly had the technology. The valley-coming-up-after-the-mountains bit was beautiful but pretty much destroyed any plausibility. They could and should have mapped the whole thing out from orbit. Yes, you want to see it yourself. But it turned into a Star-Trekkian "away team".
The second (biggest) plot hole was when they decided to go have a chat with Special Magic Unicorn. If you are going to meet Special Magic Unicorn, you had better bring a pretty big Special Magic Unicorn net. Special Magic Unicorns are always unpredictable creatures, you know, and this one would obviously know much better how to work the technology.
But, if you're worried about all that, you're watching the wrong genre. This is not an Alien movie, even if it is billed as one. Think Lovecraftian "Dead and dreaming". The *most* important point was the reaction of Special Magic Unicorn. I'm torn on whether I would have liked to have heard what David said, and while I would have liked a longer conversation, what better sequel bait to leave?
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Banter / Re: What are you doing?
« on: June 11, 2012, 12:12:20 PM »
I saw both last week in Montreal. I have to agree on the Snow White review, except to say that Charlize Theron was great and worth watching. Everything else about the movie was forgettable.
Prometheus, I liked, though I went with people who trashed it. If you nitpickulate the plot, it does indeed fail to stand up to scrutiny, alas. But that's missing the point. It's a beautiful terrifying film about playing god, and who gets to do so. The most important moment of the film is also its biggest plothole, IMO, but who cares?
Prometheus, I liked, though I went with people who trashed it. If you nitpickulate the plot, it does indeed fail to stand up to scrutiny, alas. But that's missing the point. It's a beautiful terrifying film about playing god, and who gets to do so. The most important moment of the film is also its biggest plothole, IMO, but who cares?
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Europe / Re: France labels Scientology a fraud, not a church
« on: February 03, 2012, 11:09:13 AM »
Scientology does late night infomercials of 30 mins and longer, though usually for their "Dianetics" intake program.
But give them 100 years and they'll be nearly respectable like Mormons.
But give them 100 years and they'll be nearly respectable like Mormons.
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Canada / Re: Crown / First Nations Summit
« on: January 25, 2012, 07:57:50 PM »
The behaviour on the Kelowna Accord comes straight from the Calgary School. They pretty much explicitly and openly believe that the only solution for aboriginals is to melt into the Canadian urban population, and that self-directed strategies---anything that smacks of self-government---cannot be tolerated on principle.
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USA / Re: The People Are The Enemy/S. 1867-DoD Authorization Act
« on: January 23, 2012, 02:37:54 PM »
Fine, it looks and quacks like a monopoly, because everyone treats it as such and it is the accepted social and cultural gatekeeper---or were you trusting the Free Market (heh) to get rid of it?
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Politics / Re: It's "The New Canadian Government," peon!
« on: December 13, 2011, 06:52:15 PM »
Harper is basically going after his ideological hit list. We have to understand that enough people agree with him to make a difference.
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The Arts / Prime Suspect, American remake
« on: December 10, 2011, 06:52:37 PM »
Been watching a few episodes of the American "Prime Suspect" remake. Of course, the fact that it consists of "episodes" in the form of an American-style seasons should tell you how much of a remake it is. The substitute for Helen Mirren is Maria Bello, and it's set in New York, and it's a little bit prettied up.
I don't think that Bello is the new Mirren. She does a good job, but very few actors have Mirren's gravitas and screen presence. Mirren has a sort of old-fashioned "elegance" to her that Bello just lacks. It's hard to describe exactly.
So, it carries forward some of the themes, particularly the woman in a man's world, workplace harrassment aspects of it and the dilemmas of being a woman in a hyper-macho profession. I find that it's a bit...caricatured in this new one. In the BBC one, Jane was everywoman, and her male colleagues were a resentful everyman. The American Jane is not quite everywoman, but her rivals are all enormous testosterone apes of a certain sort. It makes the sexism seem exceptional and a little harder to believe.
In American Jane's personal life, there is a boyfriend who is also a bit of a too-good-looking also-testosterone-ape guy, who is also used to highlight some of Jane's dilemmas. Boyfriend has a child from a previous marriage and is still fighting about custody details with his helicopter-mom ex-wife, who of course is not only nonplussed by Jane, but nonplussed by the fact that her son's stepmom-to-be is in a dangerous profession where everything can't be locked down. But she too is a bit of a caricature. The episodic nature also means that, so far, the kinds of massively complex overarching plots and social commentary we find in the BBC one is...somewhat weaker.
In sum, while I actually like it on its own terms, well...I'm pretty sure that Helen Mirren would never have made it if she had to start in the USA, nor the BBC series as a whole. It's not possible to use a subtler hand with more ordinary-seeming people on American networks. Still, Bello is definitely trying, and the acting is good and the plots interesting. But it's not Prime Suspect...
I don't think that Bello is the new Mirren. She does a good job, but very few actors have Mirren's gravitas and screen presence. Mirren has a sort of old-fashioned "elegance" to her that Bello just lacks. It's hard to describe exactly.
So, it carries forward some of the themes, particularly the woman in a man's world, workplace harrassment aspects of it and the dilemmas of being a woman in a hyper-macho profession. I find that it's a bit...caricatured in this new one. In the BBC one, Jane was everywoman, and her male colleagues were a resentful everyman. The American Jane is not quite everywoman, but her rivals are all enormous testosterone apes of a certain sort. It makes the sexism seem exceptional and a little harder to believe.
In American Jane's personal life, there is a boyfriend who is also a bit of a too-good-looking also-testosterone-ape guy, who is also used to highlight some of Jane's dilemmas. Boyfriend has a child from a previous marriage and is still fighting about custody details with his helicopter-mom ex-wife, who of course is not only nonplussed by Jane, but nonplussed by the fact that her son's stepmom-to-be is in a dangerous profession where everything can't be locked down. But she too is a bit of a caricature. The episodic nature also means that, so far, the kinds of massively complex overarching plots and social commentary we find in the BBC one is...somewhat weaker.
In sum, while I actually like it on its own terms, well...I'm pretty sure that Helen Mirren would never have made it if she had to start in the USA, nor the BBC series as a whole. It's not possible to use a subtler hand with more ordinary-seeming people on American networks. Still, Bello is definitely trying, and the acting is good and the plots interesting. But it's not Prime Suspect...
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Media / Re: Columnist Watch
« on: December 10, 2011, 05:31:54 PM »
Yeah, but it's not about that. She saw two groups of boys meet on the sidewalk and saw friendly hugs exchanged, and it disgusted her because Ford.
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Media / Re: Columnist Watch
« on: December 10, 2011, 05:08:00 PM »
Oh my god. Every sentence was like intellectual sulphuric acid. Was I sentient after reading that? (re Blatch)
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Weather / Re: Getting through December
« on: December 04, 2011, 07:32:19 AM »
Don't "think" it---"know" it. It's now a very old right-wing trope, to say that, even if climate change *were* true, then we should celebrate it because it gives us a chance to exploit more natural resources.