December 2006 Archives (10 posts)
Blood Diamond (2006)
The next time I purchase a diamond I’ll definitely be asking where it came from. After watching Blood Diamond (2006) you’ll be outraged, or maybe baffled by how messed up our world can sometimes be.
I wasn’t expecting a lot from Edward Zwick’s film about conflict diamonds. The reviews have been decent but this film isn’t on any top 10 lists that I’ve seen. I was very impressed.
Leonardo DiCaprio isn’t my favourite actor by a long shot but his portrayal of a diamond smuggler is first rate. His African (Rhodesian?) accent is interesting and by the end of the film I was sympathetic to his character — the mark of a fine acting performance to me.
In David Denby’s review of Blood Diamond for the New Yorker he says,
Africa breaks your heart—that’s the simplest and most persistent emotion that bursts out of such recent films as “Hotel Rwanda,” “The Constant Gardener,” “The Last King of Scotland,” and, now, “Blood Diamond,” the best and most enjoyable of this cycle of movies set against the background of civil wars, ethnic conflict, and Western meddling and exploitation.
I couldn’t agree more. The violence in this film is sobering in a Private Ryan sort of way. The injustice and brutality will anger you. This isn’t a torture scene from a James Bond film in which you can laugh. This is real, or as real as you can get by going to the cineplex to be entertained.
The worst part about Blood Diamond is knowing that we’d still rather watch the sports or weather report on CNN instead of a story on Sierra Leone. It’s disturbing when we’re confronted with the evil that exists in Africa. Who wants to hear about genocide, hunger or devastation?
Some people think that its wrong to package this type of evil into a film and sell it as entertainment. If it raises awareness then I think it is a good thing. If you enjoy a ‘movie with a message’ then you’ll be impressed with Blood Diamond. You might even be moved enough to try and make a difference. 
Films are rated from 1 to 4 stars.
Posted in Movie Reviews at 11:03 PM | Comments (2)
Borat (2006)
I finally had a chance to see Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) and I was disappointed. I waited way too long to see this.
I read about all of the lawsuits, had most of the scenes described to me in detail by others that went to see it, and just knew too much about this film going in. I should have watched it on the opening weekend.
I found that the funniest parts were all of the bits that I didn’t know very much about. Give him credit. Sacha Cohen has definitely pushed the envelope and done a brilliant job at manipulating people into letting down their guard to entertain us.
Films are rated from 1 to 4 stars.
Posted in Movie Reviews at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)
Heritage Traditional Dark
I’m enjoying a Heritage Traditional Dark from Heritage Brewery in Ottawa. I think this might be a new beer judging from the lack of information on their website, the newly designed cases, and the stubby bottles.
If you like dark beer then you can’t go wrong with Traditional Dark. It’s quite good. It reminds me a little of Gritstone Premium Ale—a favourite of mine.
Posted in Food at 6:13 PM | Comments (2)
Global Warming, Michael Crichton and the small penis rule
The denial of global warming seems to have struck a chord with a few readers and led to some interesting discussion. With the unusually warm weather, I’ve noticed a lot of recent stories on Digg about climate change.
- CBC documentary on Global Warming Deniers: The Denial Machine
- Climate Change Melts Kilimanjaro’s Snows
- NO SNOW IN THE ALPS Skiers Wondering When Winter Will Come
Poor Michael Crichton. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of love or respect for his book, State of Fear. Not only that, his publisher really seems to dislike him.
In his latest book, Crichton takes things a little too far with ‘the small penis rule’ by defaming Michael Crowley. What the heck am I talking about you ask? Take a look at this Cock and Bull article at The NewRepublic Online.
I have a strange feeling that some of you will really digg this story and never read another Michael Crichton novel again.
Posted in News and Observations at 1:10 AM | Comments (5)
An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
I finally got around to watching An Inconvenient Truth (2006) and I was thoroughly impressed. I was also surprised by how little I really knew about global warming.
Gore’s presentation about the dangers of global warming are clear, direct, and undeniable. By making global warming into a moral issue (comparing it to lung cancer and tobacco), Gore makes it clear that only a fool would ignore the catastrophe we face if we choose to be skeptics or worse, apathetic, when it comes to the environment.
I watched part of an Inconvenient Truth with a friend of mine on the weekend and it amazed me how he took the side of the skeptics, who argue that global warming isn’t as bad as Al Gore or the scientific community would have you believe.
In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film.
— Roger Ebert
This friend of mine felt that Gore made An Inconvenient Truth for political gain or to stroke his ego. Yes, there are few attacks on the current US administration, but 90% of the film focuses on the environment and the alarming trends that threaten our future.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative…your mind will be changed in a nanosecond.
— Roger Friedman, Foxnews.com
Even if you can’t stand Gore you must have heard of Kyoto or read a headline about climate change. I wonder if my friend has noticed people wearing shorts in the middle of December, in Toronto. Then again, this is the same guy that leaves his lights on 24/7.
If you want to help prevent global warming then turn off the lights you’re not using! Use energy efficient light bulbs. Stop driving around in your gas-guzzling SUV. Use energy efficient appliances in your home. Watch An Inconvenient Truth. All of it!
Films are rated from 1 to 4 stars.
Posted in DVD Reviews at 11:59 PM | Comments (10)
Livebait.tv
A couple of months ago I started working with a couple of friends (Ian and Rose) on a side project called livebait.tv — a video podcast where sub-culture meets pop-culture.
I quickly designed a site for livebait.tv and we put up our first episode —The Rose and Skinny Show. From there we:
- interviewed DJ Champion and shot his last concert at Lee’s Palace
- covered an event for The Walrus magazine in which Bruce Mau is interviewed
- interviewed Gabe Swahney of the murmur project
- interviewed the members of drawnonward — Canadian landscape painters
- and more.
The interview with DJ Champion was a great experience and it’s one of the best stories we’ve done so far. I’m extremely please with how it came together and the timing couldn’t be better.
DJ Champion’s single “No Heaven” is one of the biggest in Canada and gets a lot of radio airplay. Our interview has footage of that song being performed at his recent concert in Toronto. That was a big coup for us.
So what is my involvement? Ian and I shoot the video and Rose does most of the interviews. I’ll work with Ian on ‘finding the story’ for each piece and edit everything in Final Cut Studio — a fabulous creative experience every time we sit down and look at our footage. From there I’ll compress the footage into various video formats and upload them to livebait.tv for viewing.
Between the three of us it takes about 8-10 hours to produce a 5 minute story. If things look a little rough around the edges its because we don’t have the luxury of time, a budget, or a lot of professional experience. We’re learning as we go, meeting some really interesting artists and having a lot of fun.
The biggest challenge is finding the time to do all of this. Ian and Rose have an amazing ability for coming up with some really interesting interviews. Somehow we manage to pull it off each time, even when our day jobs get in the way.
Stay tuned for more episodes of livebait.tv. Check out the DJ Champion story. Tell your friends.
Post some feedback. Blog about it. Toss me a bone!
Posted in Web at 12:08 PM | Comments (4)
Animated GIFs with Photoshop CS2
I create a lot of animated GIFs with my web development work and until a few minutes ago I’ve been using Macromedia Fireworks MX to do this. I knew that Adobe ImageReady could do this and never bothered to figure it out.
It turns out that Photoshop CS2 lets you create animated GIFs. No need to use ImageReady or Fireworks. And it couldn’t be simpler. Jeremy Schultz at Designorati has a great tutorial that will get you animating GIFs in no time.
Posted in Web Development at 3:38 PM | Comments (0)
The Bridge (2006)
Tonight I went to the Canadian premiere of The Bridge at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto (part of Hot Docs film festival). This film is fascinating.
Yes, there is a lot of footage of people jumping off the bridge and it is unsettling to watch. But, there are some compelling interviews with family and friends of the people that commit suicide. Why did they jump? Were there many warning signs? Could their suicides have been prevented?
In the film, there is an incredible account from one young man that survived a jump off the bridge in 2000. He landed on his feet when he hit the water at 120 km/hour and broke his back. Before he jumped he was crying and confused. A German tourist approached him and instead of asking if he was okay, she asked him if he would take her picture!
A lot of the pedestrian traffic on the bridge simply watch as people climb over the railing and jump to their death. Occasionally the police arrive in time to talk people out of jumping or arrest them for attempting to jump.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen while watching The Bridge. I felt like I became one of the camera operators, constantly scanning the pedestrian traffic, wondering who might be at the end of their rope.
People that you thought might jump, don’t. A man is shown laughing and talking on his cell phone. Without warning he quickly finishes his call, puts down his phone, climbs over the railing and jumps to his death. Why?
Director, Eric Steel was at the film and held a very interesting Q&A. He’s taken a lot of criticism for filming the suicides. What most people don’t know is that he and his film crew prevented 6 people from jumping off the bridge.
Whenever they suspected someone might jump, they called the police. Unfotunately 23 people gave little to no warning that they were about to jump.
Official film website
Movie trailer
Films are rated from 1 to 4 stars.
Posted in Movie Reviews at 11:38 PM | Comments (6)
Now Smell This
Back in June I photographed some Asiatic lilies and posted them on Bombippy Photos. Earlier this week I was asked by another blogger if she could use my photo in a review of Serge Lutens Un Lys fragrance. Thanks to Robin at Now Smell This for the photo credit.
Now Smell This is a blog about perfume with current reviews, an extensive list of perfume houses and links to perfume-related sites.
Posted in Blogs and Photography at 12:18 PM | Comments (1)
Catwoman (2004)
I’m always skeptical of movies that are directed by people with one name such as Pitof (Catwoman), McG (Charlie’s Angels), and Kaos (Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever). I wasn’t expecting much from Catwoman (2004), especially after all of the bad press it received but to his credit, Pitof did a decent job.
There are some interesting CGI (computer genereated image) sequences and camera moves that give the film a unique style and feeling of high production value. This falls flat wherever there was any character animation—the CGI Catwoman jumping around the buildings in downtown Vancouver looked unrealistic and cartoon-like.
Halle Berry is a great choice for Catwoman. She insisted on doing most of her own stunts and it pays off. The fight scenes are actually pretty good and fairly realistic. Unfortunately a lot of her dialog is really cheesy, giving the movie a campy feel reminiscent of the 1960s Batman television series.
Sharon Stone was interesting as a villain, who I’ll call the Botox Brick. It made sense that the cosmetic products she used made her skin as like a body armor but where did she get her mad fightin’ skills?
The movie is far from perfect but I think it is worth a spin in your DVD player if you’ve never seen it.
Films are rated from 1 to 4 stars.
Posted in DVD Reviews at 10:58 AM | Comments (1)
