I recently re-read and essay by Bertrand Russell entitled "In Praise Of Idleness." He advocates the idea of a four hour work day. Wouldn't we all love to work a four hour work day? What would in entail? In Russell's words "...as soon as the NECESSARRIES and ELEMENTARY comforts can be provided for all, to reduce the hours of labour gradually, allowing a popular vote to decide, at each stage, whether more leisure or more goods were to be preferred." I know what you're thinking, to define necessary and elementary comforts appears to be an insermountable task, but a four hour work day is a huge incentive to witling down wants and needs to necessary and elementary comforts. What would the rest of the day consist of? Fulfilling curiosity in anything you were interested in. Maybe finding a cure for cancer. Creating art for yourself. Participating in leisure activities instead of passive leisure activities. For example playing football instead of watching football. Putting on a play instead of watching television. Pursuing your dream without being poor and hungry.
We have all been told that if we work had (i.e. long hours) we will one day attain our dreams (in the distant future). Why can't we attain our dreams now? What would this mean? A reduction in material possessions for all, i.e. less consumption. The belief that people can be happy without material possessions. Do you really need that x-box? I'm not saying that you can't have the x-box, but the x-box must be obtained from other source of trade not you're four hour work day.
If everyone who can work did and a common foundation of what is necessary is written, the idea of a four hour workday does not seem so far fetched. Our common goal: The four hour work day.
My list of what is necessary and elementary:
Running Water
Food
Shelter
Clothing
Electricity
Education
Health Care
National Defense (not offensive)
What do you think? Do you have anything to add or subtract from the list?
Monday, November 30, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Why as we get older we go from more liberal to more conservative.
As I have gotten older, I view myself as more conservative. Right now I can't even describe why I believe this is so; I just feel that I have. I'm wondering why I have changed? What generated the change? What I'm beginning to believe is that my belief that people can change and are good, has dimmed. My self absorbtion has increased; and as it has increased, my empathy for the pain and suffering of others has decreased. This thought is unfinished and only for myself, but I find it some how liberating that someone else may read my half formed though.
As I have gotten older, I view myself as more conservative. Right now I can't even describe why I believe this is so; I just feel that I have. I'm wondering why I have changed? What generated the change? What I'm beginning to believe is that my belief that people can change and are good, has dimmed. My self absorbtion has increased; and as it has increased, my empathy for the pain and suffering of others has decreased. This thought is unfinished and only for myself, but I find it some how liberating that someone else may read my half formed though.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
District 9
Just came back from the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC).
Saw an advance screening of District 9.
Peter Jackson introduced the film along with the director, Neill Blomkamp, and the star of the film, Sharlto Copley, who plays Wikus van der Merwe (It was sooo cool seeing Peter Jackson in person as I love Lord Of The Rings. I am one of those people who has the extended dvd edition for all three movies and has watched all the extras and listened to all the director audio commentary for all three films.).
I've viewed other reviews for the film which were overall positive and agree with what was said about the movie. So some of their comments are cobbled together with my own when I agree with what they say. I'll list the sites I used at the bottom of my post.
If you've seen the trailers, the movie is not what you'll expect, but in a good way. I was expecting a generic action alien movie, but was given an alien action movie with heart (i.e. I thought it was orignal.). Lead actor Sharlto Copley brings a dynamic human performance to the role while going through an extremely satisfying character arc. And in a sci-fi movie to boot. Wikus, the main character, is not you're average hero and even at the end of the movie I'm not sure I even liked him, but I did respect him for his courage. The action is amazing. The aliens aren't cheezy and appear realistic. Other CGI images (humans getting shot, shots of the alien ship, etc.) are also excellent.
The movie starts out SLOW in a documentary style of shooting and transitions into a traditional style as things start to go wrong for the main character, Wikus.
Plot (Taken from Sci-fi Squad.com):
Back in the 1980s, a massive spaceship hovers over Johannesburg, Independence Day-style. While the city braces for an attack ... nothing ever happens. Eventually military forces cut their way into the ship, and they find a million aliens inside in deplorable conditions, sickly and dying. They're brought down to the city and housed in a slum (District 9), and the ship continues to hover over the city.
During the raid on the ship, a vast array of alien weaponry is found, but none of the guns work in human hands despite the best efforts of the government. Flash forward to 20 years later, where the government and the people have grown increasingly uncomfortable with District 9, which continues to swell in size. Like any slum, it has its own black market dealing in alien weaponry, despite its inability to fire, and aliens trade with humans for food, raw meat, and sexual favors. They decide to relocate the aliens to a new center filled with tents and surrounded by barbed wire, 20 kilometers outside the city.
This effort is spearheaded by the Multinational United (MNU) arm of the government, with newly appointed and nebbishy Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) in charge of the eviction and relocation. Although the aliens are presented as animals at first, the audience definitely empathizes with them through the second half of the film.
Don't watch G.I. Joe Watch DISTRICT 9.
If you haven't watched Transformers 2 watch District 9 first.
P.S. Sharlto Copley is much better looking as himself.
But who cares?
Opinions and words were mostly taken from:
http://www.scifisquad.com/2009/07/24/sdcc-first-impressions-peter-jackson-and-neil-blomkamps-distr/
Saw an advance screening of District 9.
Peter Jackson introduced the film along with the director, Neill Blomkamp, and the star of the film, Sharlto Copley, who plays Wikus van der Merwe (It was sooo cool seeing Peter Jackson in person as I love Lord Of The Rings. I am one of those people who has the extended dvd edition for all three movies and has watched all the extras and listened to all the director audio commentary for all three films.).
I've viewed other reviews for the film which were overall positive and agree with what was said about the movie. So some of their comments are cobbled together with my own when I agree with what they say. I'll list the sites I used at the bottom of my post.
If you've seen the trailers, the movie is not what you'll expect, but in a good way. I was expecting a generic action alien movie, but was given an alien action movie with heart (i.e. I thought it was orignal.). Lead actor Sharlto Copley brings a dynamic human performance to the role while going through an extremely satisfying character arc. And in a sci-fi movie to boot. Wikus, the main character, is not you're average hero and even at the end of the movie I'm not sure I even liked him, but I did respect him for his courage. The action is amazing. The aliens aren't cheezy and appear realistic. Other CGI images (humans getting shot, shots of the alien ship, etc.) are also excellent.
The movie starts out SLOW in a documentary style of shooting and transitions into a traditional style as things start to go wrong for the main character, Wikus.
Plot (Taken from Sci-fi Squad.com):
Back in the 1980s, a massive spaceship hovers over Johannesburg, Independence Day-style. While the city braces for an attack ... nothing ever happens. Eventually military forces cut their way into the ship, and they find a million aliens inside in deplorable conditions, sickly and dying. They're brought down to the city and housed in a slum (District 9), and the ship continues to hover over the city.
During the raid on the ship, a vast array of alien weaponry is found, but none of the guns work in human hands despite the best efforts of the government. Flash forward to 20 years later, where the government and the people have grown increasingly uncomfortable with District 9, which continues to swell in size. Like any slum, it has its own black market dealing in alien weaponry, despite its inability to fire, and aliens trade with humans for food, raw meat, and sexual favors. They decide to relocate the aliens to a new center filled with tents and surrounded by barbed wire, 20 kilometers outside the city.
This effort is spearheaded by the Multinational United (MNU) arm of the government, with newly appointed and nebbishy Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) in charge of the eviction and relocation. Although the aliens are presented as animals at first, the audience definitely empathizes with them through the second half of the film.
Don't watch G.I. Joe Watch DISTRICT 9.
If you haven't watched Transformers 2 watch District 9 first.
P.S. Sharlto Copley is much better looking as himself.
But who cares?
Opinions and words were mostly taken from:
http://www.scifisquad.com/2009/07/24/sdcc-first-impressions-peter-jackson-and-neil-blomkamps-distr/
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Why being an auditor for a big four company sucks
1. Almost never a reasonable hourly budget for a job/project.
2. Due to number 1, almost always being asked to account for overages (overtime).
3. As the appropriate answer to number 2 is not number 1, you basically eat time or write in the time report that it took less than it actually did. So your manager doesn't think you're a total idiot.
4. Due to number 3, always working to much and too late.
More to come.
2. Due to number 1, almost always being asked to account for overages (overtime).
3. As the appropriate answer to number 2 is not number 1, you basically eat time or write in the time report that it took less than it actually did. So your manager doesn't think you're a total idiot.
4. Due to number 3, always working to much and too late.
More to come.
Publish Post
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Thoughts on the movie "Knowing"
Dude this movie sucked.
Why does this movie suck?
1. Why does the little boy in the film, have a hearing aid? What does that have to do with the plot?
2. Nicolas Cage's character, John, calls in to the police to warn of one the disasters. He then goes to the site of where the disaster is supposed to happen and asks one of the police officers why they have not blocked the area. Why would you do this? Does he want to be arrested? How stupid!
3. Why does Diana take the kids while John is trying to find the coordinates that he believes will be safe and save the children? Why does she not believe him when previously in the story she has? Then she gets into a car accident and dies? Her death adds nothing for the main plot.
4. What is up with the aliens/angels leaving all those rocks everywhere?
5. Something else confusing, the introduction of Abby's ability to also hear the whispers. Why is it confusing? Because there is no introduction!
6. No close relationships between any of the characters.
7. Why does John's son, Caleb, start writing more numbers near the end of the film, if the world is ending that day, and the numbers are supposed to be prophecy's of disasters in the future?
The only things I liked about this film are the idea that we may have started over in the past, and the imagery of the new "earth."
Something different about this film is that the humanity is destroyed, no last minute miraculous save via human ingenuity, and some people are saved not by doing of our own, but through aliens/angels.
I was actually angry at this film because it sucked so much.
But who Cares!
Why does this movie suck?
1. Why does the little boy in the film, have a hearing aid? What does that have to do with the plot?
2. Nicolas Cage's character, John, calls in to the police to warn of one the disasters. He then goes to the site of where the disaster is supposed to happen and asks one of the police officers why they have not blocked the area. Why would you do this? Does he want to be arrested? How stupid!
3. Why does Diana take the kids while John is trying to find the coordinates that he believes will be safe and save the children? Why does she not believe him when previously in the story she has? Then she gets into a car accident and dies? Her death adds nothing for the main plot.
4. What is up with the aliens/angels leaving all those rocks everywhere?
5. Something else confusing, the introduction of Abby's ability to also hear the whispers. Why is it confusing? Because there is no introduction!
6. No close relationships between any of the characters.
7. Why does John's son, Caleb, start writing more numbers near the end of the film, if the world is ending that day, and the numbers are supposed to be prophecy's of disasters in the future?
The only things I liked about this film are the idea that we may have started over in the past, and the imagery of the new "earth."
Something different about this film is that the humanity is destroyed, no last minute miraculous save via human ingenuity, and some people are saved not by doing of our own, but through aliens/angels.
I was actually angry at this film because it sucked so much.
But who Cares!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Thoughts on Terminator Salvation...
I just watched Terminator Salvation.
Here is my own movie Q&A with myself.
Q: Did you like the movie?
A: It was good, but nothing great.
The end.
Random I think...s' about the movie (Q: Is "I think...s'" even grammatically correct? A: Probably not.)
1. I think I could have watched that movie at home and not felt that I had missed something by not seeing it at the movie theatre. Reason: I found none of the special effect or maybe it was the camera angles of said special effects, spectacular. Very depressing, as the reason to go to a movie theatre is to see movies with action in them.
2. I think the character of John Connor's wife, Kate, was totally useless (No offense to Bryce Dallas Howard, daughter of Ron Howard, who was in the movie The Village). Other than the fact that her character was in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and is noted in that movie to be the wife of John Connor and Mother of their children who will be important members of the resistance. OK, so after writing that, maybe that's why her character is in the movie, but still, I felt no good or bad feelings towards Kate and her character did not drive the plot of the story. In other words her character sucked.
3. I think Kate being pregnant distracted me from the story. What does her being pregnant have anything to do with the actual storyline? At this point I feel like I should go back and watch Terminator 3 to see if the Terminator, portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, said anything about when their kids were born. Maybe that's why she's pregnant? Whatever, it still was distracting and (I felt) unnecessary to drive the story.
4. I think Sam Worthington, who played Marcus Wright, was totally hot! Not sure about his acting ability as I had a hard time focusing while being mesmerized by his hot face and body. Nuf said.
Well that's all I have to say.
But Who Cares?
Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for bad grammar and spelling in this post. I already know I suck at that kind of stuff.
Here is my own movie Q&A with myself.
Q: Did you like the movie?
A: It was good, but nothing great.
The end.
Random I think...s' about the movie (Q: Is "I think...s'" even grammatically correct? A: Probably not.)
1. I think I could have watched that movie at home and not felt that I had missed something by not seeing it at the movie theatre. Reason: I found none of the special effect or maybe it was the camera angles of said special effects, spectacular. Very depressing, as the reason to go to a movie theatre is to see movies with action in them.
2. I think the character of John Connor's wife, Kate, was totally useless (No offense to Bryce Dallas Howard, daughter of Ron Howard, who was in the movie The Village). Other than the fact that her character was in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and is noted in that movie to be the wife of John Connor and Mother of their children who will be important members of the resistance. OK, so after writing that, maybe that's why her character is in the movie, but still, I felt no good or bad feelings towards Kate and her character did not drive the plot of the story. In other words her character sucked.
3. I think Kate being pregnant distracted me from the story. What does her being pregnant have anything to do with the actual storyline? At this point I feel like I should go back and watch Terminator 3 to see if the Terminator, portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, said anything about when their kids were born. Maybe that's why she's pregnant? Whatever, it still was distracting and (I felt) unnecessary to drive the story.
4. I think Sam Worthington, who played Marcus Wright, was totally hot! Not sure about his acting ability as I had a hard time focusing while being mesmerized by his hot face and body. Nuf said.
Well that's all I have to say.
But Who Cares?
Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for bad grammar and spelling in this post. I already know I suck at that kind of stuff.
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