Assange Being Charged For Sexual Molestation of Minors?

Through the course of today Julian Assange is being arrested by Interpol agents regarding a Swedish Sexual assault charge.

More here:
The Daily Mail - The Wikileaks sex files: How two one-night stands sparked a worldwide hunt for Julian Assange

A discussion with some friends on the issue got me wondering what the legal terms of the charges were. I found my way to the Swedish Prosecution Authority

Reading a blurb about Assange's proceedings

The matter concerning Mr. Assange
Director of Prosecution, Ms. Marianne Ny, will hold a press conference concerning the proceedings in the Assange matter.

Time: 16.45 pm Tuesday 7 December

Address: Police Headquarters, Ernst Fontells plats 3, Göteborg (Gothenburg)

Next to the article there's a column for More Information, Background information and some other legal jargon. The Background section, however, contained a link to the Swedish Penal Code and a the relevant sections

The Swedish Penal Code

See Chapter 6, On Sexual Crimes, sections 1, 2, and 7.

See also Chapter 4, On Crimes against Liberty and Peace, section 7

Checking out Chapter 6, Section 1 refers to rape or coercing sexual intercourse through violence or threat of violence. Section 2 refers to coercion by unlawful means that aren't covered by Section 1 (probably where the bulk of the case is going to be focused on). Section 7 however refers to the molestation of minors and the coercions of minors from 15-17 to participate in pornographic material.

I don't know if this means anything yet but I find it extremely strange that they would list that section so directly when none of the women currently involved are minors.

Writing a Novel is Hard

Have you ever seen one of those 10k runs that all people are encouraged to participate in? There's a funny thing about the first couple of kilometers of those. The first aid stations in the beginning third usually see a LOT of people who are completely unprepared for a 1k run, let alone a 10k. I'm kind of feeling that way about my novel. 50,000 words in 30 days. That works out to about 1600 words a day assuming you don't miss any days (which I have).

I can see why writing is considered a full time job now. Even when I do manage to sit down and write I'll rarely get my full quota for the day done in the 3 hours I generally have. It's also become pretty clear to me how important the editing process is. Trying to keep momentum going when you're writing is a challenge. You can't always, and in fact, probably shouldn't, write linearly. If an idea comes into your head you've kind of got to sketch it out before it's gone. That kind of stuff puts you in a mood that might not fit the previous section you wrote so I've ended up mixing tones and styles all over the place.

It's a good thing this isn't to write a novel you're proud of or I'd really be in over my head. I've got a story figured out though and I'm satisfied with my characters that have appeared so far. It's just filling out the words in between.

National Novel Writing Month

I've decided to participate in NaNoWriMo this year! I'm excited to see how far I get. I've got an idea and a few hundred words written already but that 50,000 word goal is looking pretty intimidating. I really like the idea I've come up with though and think that if I can figure out how to make enough content for it I'll be pretty pleased with myself.

I remember reading Stephen King's on writing last month and how much that motivated me to write more. This year I'm going to try to take it to the next step with a full novel. I probably won't be releasing it because, hey, who ever wrote a good novel on their first attempt, but there's got to be some jumping off point.

(Apparently the rest of the world also had this idea too because nanowrimo.org is crawling at this point.)

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/737370

So This Happened...Daft Punk Join Phoenix at Madison Square Garden

For the past few months I've been falling farther and farther into a hopeless addiction of those synth jammers and their motorcycle-stunt-men getup, Daft Punk. So when I heard that the boys had come out of hiatus for the first real time in three years (aside from a cameo at the 2008 Grammys) I almost got junk sick on the idea of there being a whole bunch more to enjoy come December and the release of the Tron Legacy Soundtrack. But for the time being I'll have to make due with Daft Punk randomly deciding to kick out a few tunes with Phoenix at Madison Square Garden the other night.

(via Stereogum)

Hurricane Igor

Of all the times to be without a camera, one of the worst hurricanes that has come through Newfoundland in a very long time is not a very good one. I've seen so many road signs ripped up and thrown across the road, trees uprooted, lamp posts knocked down and rivers flooding to fill a book but I haven't been able to take any pictures of any of it.

I suppose other people's photos will have to do (and are probably better than anything I would have taken anyway):

http://www.colinpeddle.com/featured/hurricane-igor/



http://hashalbum.com/igornl

Making of Star Guitar

This video is "Star Guitar" by Chemical Brothers.



It's a pretty amazing music video on its own but there's a lot to it that's not obvious on first viewing. First of all: the director, Michel Gondry who is a fascinating story on his own. He's best known for his auteur films "Eternal Sunlight of the Spotless Mind" and "The Science of Sleep". Aside from that, he's done a number of music videos including the one above. The depth of the video might not be obvious at first but what it represents is a blending of film-making and the creation of electronic music. Like most music there are patterns that represent certain musical phrases and beats. Sometimes you get this in the form of formal music notation, sometimes you get something like this.



That's a kind of sound map that Brian Eno used for his landmark "Ambient 1: Music for Airports" (also one of my favourite albums). The following video is like that for Gondry's Star Guitar. Check it out and appreciate the insane depth of Star Guitar.

9 Songs About Waking Up

Why do so many songs about waking up fail to actually entice anyone to get up and start your day? Here are 9 songs about waking up, about 3 of which actually might get me up instead of just hurling the radio across the room.

Arcade Fire - Wake Up

My pick for song that I'd most like to rip me from the sweet embrace of sleep in the morning. Great percussion, a sing-a-long chorus, upbeat tempo; the only problem is that I'd want to listen to it a few more times and probably miss whatever it was I was getting up for.


Rage Against The Machine - Wake Up

Total bomber. This should get you up, albeit not much much finesse. I think it's a great song but as a wake up call it's about one step above having a dumptruck back through your bedroom wall every morning.


John Legend & The Roots - Wake Up Everybody

This song's got potential but it should be followed with a little more energetic kicker to get you moving. This is a wake up song for people who like to ease into their mornings, like those folk who tune into the classical station to wake up to the gentle sound of a string quartet. (This has never worked for me and only led to the inevitable 15 minute morning sprint to get you to wherever you need to be once you realize you've slept in.


Coheed and Cambria - Wake Up

What the hell is this? The only way this song is waking anyone up is if Coheed and Cambria are actually jumping on your bed while playing this slow dance.


Three Days Grace - Wake Up

The prospect of not having to listen to this Chad-Kroeger-esque crooner for any longer is certainly enough to put a spring in my step


Mad Season - Wake Up

Now we're talking. A slow, gentle first half with a kicker of a bridge featuring a shredding guitar solo. Slows down near the end but at least you're cajoled with a series of "WAKE UP"s so at least you can pretend Layne Staley is your dad (although in Layne's case he's probably just trying to get you up for some money so he doesn't have to sell the TV to get his heroin fix for the morning)


Korn - Wake Up

WAKE THA FUCK UP! It's songs like this that make you wonder why you secretly (or not so secretly in my case) like Korn way back when.



Hayden Panettiere - Wake Up Call

That cheerleader chick from Heroes who was Paris Hilton's skank understudy for a while does some pop/ska nonsense about whatever skanky pop starlets sing about these days.


Maroon 5 - Wake Up Call

Maroon 5 seem as good as any modern day soul/pop derivative. I wouldn't want to wake up to them though. This song especially seems like it would both unoffensive and slow enough to leave me passively accepting as it intruded upon my sleep.

INCEPTIONAUTS!

The Internet has been swamped these past few weeks with so many Inception mash-up trailers I'm starting to feel like we will soon have an Inceptionized trailer for every significant movie of the last 20 years. Up, The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park, THE SECRET OF NIMH! I was on the verge of saying that the whole meme had been officially beaten into horseburgers until I saw this: Inceptionauts.

If anyone remembers this criminally underappreciated game, good on you. It's Psychonauts from Double Fine which is the company Tim Schafer founded after working on such amazing games as Monkey Island 1 and 2, Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle Full Throttle and Grim Fandango for Lucasarts. If you haven't, add it to your bucket list. (Though people still give Psychonauts crap for having the difficulty spike near the end that hits you like like a volleyball player after an adrenaline shot to the heart. I didn't think it was that bad. Your mileage may vary.)

Paging the Real Iron Man

Sorry all you other Iron Men. There's another Iron Man in the house and he SHOOTS ELECTRICITY FROM HIS FISTS.

OK. Not really but this video involves Black Sabbath, Tesla Coils and some badass metal suits so who really cares.

CCTV Footage Of One Stormy Night

CCTV footage of a Pacific Sun Cruise liner that MIGHT be doing barrel rolls.


LiveLeak.com - Pacific Sun Cruise liner in very heavy seas. Internal CCTV footage.

The Wilderness Downtown

It's not often that I see something truly new online but the recent interactive video by Chris Milk and Aaron Koblin is an extremely fresh and interesting experiment in both interactive art and HTML5. The website/video/art project (or whatever it is) blends video, elements from Google Maps and the users personal sense of nostalgia to weave a surprisingly personal experience. Apparently the experience can be viewed in other browsers with some trickery but it's been optimized for Google Chrome so I'd suggest going with that. Check it out at:
http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

If you found it as imagination capturing as I did check out the behind the scenes work at the link below. For what it's worth I have a hard time not thinking about The Wildnerness Downtown whenever I hear the Arcade Fire song that provides the accompanying music.

http://creativity-online.com/news/behind-the-work-arcade-fire-the-wilderness-downtown/145696

James Hance Mashes up Star Wars and Children's Stories

I could see "The Kessel Run" hanging in my living room.
James Hance - Relentlessly Cheerful Art

This guy gives me a Brandon Bird vibe and that's usually a good thing.

Chrononauts

I enjoy board games quite a lot. There are some truly interesting games out there that are unique in many different ways. The actual mechanics of many of these games aren't all that disparate but there are a lot of innovative themes and story behind some of these games. Tonight I played a game that had a fascinating twist on a somewhat average concept and an inventive theme with which to rationalize your game plan: Chrononauts.

Chrononauts is a game about manipulating time. It's played with cards that are split up between action cards and a 8x4 grid of events that have happened between the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the Columbine shootings. Your job, as a chrononaut, is to manipulate time in a variety of ways to achieve one of several goals. You can be the good solider and just fix everything that goes wrong, manipulate time in order to achieve a certain combination of events that satisfies your characters MO, or collect a series of historical artifacts to sell on the black time market to get rich. The time events are separated between lynchpin events and dependent events. If you change time so Hitler is assassinated a whole series of dependent events occur like the 1936 worlds fair is never held in Germany, WWII never happens, and a whole bunch of other stuff. If you're playing the "good" chrononaut you'll want to fix all the paradoxes that occur because of the altered time stream. This might, however, give your opponent an altered event they need to satisfy their character MO success. One of the characters I played wanted to ensure that the Russian Space Program was the first to get to the moon. There are a whole lot of different characters and artifact sets you can collect to win.

So the gameplay isn't all that new. You draw cards in the hope of getting actions that let you change time or alter the other players game in the manner of interrupts or stealing cards they've played. It's the theme that makes this work for me. I like that you've got a selection of motivations for your character so if you're getting a lot time changing actions you can choose to play towards either manipulating the time-stream or setting up your MO. Likewise for artifacts. I did find the actual gameplay to be largely based on luck. There are several "search the deck" or "search the discard pile" or those kind of actions but getting them depends on what cards you draw and while there are also ways of accelerating the cards you draw it always seems like all your work could be in vain at any moment by someone stealing something you spend many turns acquiring or reversing something you spend a long time looking for a way to change. It's hard to say whether playing more games will make it easier to anticipate or plan for the actions of your opponents but I get the feeling that there will always be someone ready to pounce on your last action to their own advantage.

Regardless of how it plays i really enjoy the inventiveness of what you're doing. You're an agent of time, out to use your skills to manipulate the 20th century for good or for personal gain. There's a really smart series of lynchpins and dependencies as well. If you make sure the right presidents never get the opportunity to be impeached then you can keep Richard Nixon in office because there's no longer precedence for it. There's even a timeline where John Lennon becomes a senator and abolishes gun ownership, effectively preventing Columbine from happening. It's extremely entertaining to see the crazy timelines that come out of everyone scrambling to make the perfect series of events. Lincoln might have survived assassination and Tokyo was nuked instead of Hiroshima but John Lennon still abolishes gun ownership. I like the stories Chrononauts tells and I like the way you can control your own story but I'm not sure if the gameplay will hold up like Catan or Puerto Rico.

Baking with Trub

That there is what we call “trub”. You might also call it sponge or in my case “bread starter”. Under normal circumstances this stuff probably shouldn’t be used for baking but I was just going to flush it anyway so here goes.
After some googling (and learning a few new terms like trub and sponge) I found that two cups of sponge is roughly 1 packet of starter yeast. So that’s what I’m going on.
2 cups sponge/trub
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp oil


Mix it all up add:
1 cup of flour, mix

Add another cup and mix until it firms up. Throw it on a cutting board, add up to another cup a little at a time until it’s not sticky anymore.

Knead until it’s ready, throw it in a bowl, rub with a little oil and cover the bowl with a wet cloth for the next 12-18 hours.

That’s all I’ve got so far. I think this is going to be a very hop flavoured sour dough but only time will tell if it’s at all edible.

Beer Transfer

Beer update time! I transferred my wort to my secondary fermenter today. Nothing special but I got some photos and a special bonus!
Here’s a few days in. The yeast must be enjoying itself.

Really nothing to do at this point but wait until the foam dies down. Once racking day comes along you should move the bucket to a highish surface. As long as bottom of the bucket with the wort is above the top of the one you’re transferring to you’re fine.

Look at all that yeast!

We’ll see more of that stuff later.
The reason we want the bucket high is that we’re going to let gravity do the work. That’s right, siphoning! I learned a little trick since the last time I made beer and it’s worked real well. Instead of using your mouth to suck the water through the tube you can fill the tube up with water and drain it into a bowl until the beer comes through.


Not a whole lot left. Once the beer is flowing put the other end of the tube in the second bucket and let it go. To avoid letting the sediment get into the tube and maximize what you remove you can prop the bucket on a board like I’ve done and hold onto the rod so you can keep it above the sediment line until all the liquid is gone.


At this point I’m dry-hopping as well so in they go.


Fill the airlock up about halfway with water, put the cap on and you’re done.

Well, there are a hell of a lot of photos here already so I’m going to split the rest of them into a separate update but all you need to know is: “trub bread”.

Seasick Steve Live on Jools Holland

This guy has an amazing sound. I saw him on Series 14 of Top Gear and loved his 3 string style. The Mississippi Drum Machine is pretty great as well.

Brewing Beer the OH GOD WHAT AM I DOING Way

Beer. That golden liquid that most of us have used at some point or other as a social lubricant or just as a tasty accessory to dinner. Have you even wondered where that amber liquid that comes in 6-12 packs in your local corner store comes from? Well this isn't it. It's close but this is a bit of a different beast. It is, however, my first time stepping up to this level of complexity with my own brewing so like any good blogger I documented the whole process.

First of all, the ingredients.

Grains


* 500g American Crystal Malt 70/80L

Hops


* 50g Galena Hop Pellets
* 50g Cascade Hop Pellets
* 28g (1 oz) Williamette Hop Pellets

Extract (the sugers)


* 3.3 lbs (1 can) Black Rock Amber Malt
* 500g Spray Malt light
* 1 kg Muntons Beer Kit Enhancer

Other

* 11g Nottingham Yeast


My process was cribbed and adapted from two sources. The recipe I had initially planned on following was Pirate's Heart (sic) from TastyBrew and my go-to source for all brewing knowledge is Bodensatz. The rest is me freaking out about how far I've deviated from the recipe and making due with whatever I have. So lets get started!

Grain

This is pretty much the easiest way of using grain in your brew. The idea is that you keep it in a pot of water that is still in pre-boil for about half an hour. You've got to watch it like a hawk but all you need to do is crush your grain (i had it done in store) and throw your grain in a bag then in the pot.



Appreciate as your house starts to smell like breakfast.

If you need inspiration, crack open your own beer! In time you will have your own bucket of suds at half to 3/4 the price! If that's not motivation, I don't know what is!



After the grains have steeped for long enough, take out the grain bag and put it aside (you're done with it). Now you have a pot of grain water that you're going to want to bring to a boil. The recipes I wanted to follow called for a 3+ gallon pot but I didn't have one. Keep in mind that if you don't have one, be prepared to stare at the pot for the rest of the cooking. I had to remove some liquid at a point because it was about to boil over and make for one annoying cleaning session. Once you've hit a boil, leave it there for a minute or 5 then remove it from heat. Now is the time to add all your extracts or whatever sugar you're using. I'm using a LOT of sugar, which should translate to a higher alcohol content, so my pot increased by about 3 liters (hence having to move out a little liquid).

Hops

You're about halfway there at this point. Find a temperature where you're at a nice easy boil but not too vigorous. The hops are going to make it foam considerably so if you're close to boiling over keep your eye on it as much as possible.



Hops need to be added according to a certain time-frame. You'll be boiling it for an hour and some go in earlier than others. My schedule ended up being as follows: 1 oz Galena w. 60 minutes left, 1 oz Willamette w. 20 mins, 1 oz Galena & 1 oz Cascade w. 5 minutes left.

Finishing

As you're getting close to completing your wort (what all the stuff in the pot is called) you can choose to rehydrate your yeast. Yeast is your friendly fungal micro-organism that is the real star behind beer brewing. You'll usually get it in dried form so to improve its performance and reduce the chance of it dying of temperature shock you can pop it in a glass with some warm water to get it working before you add it to the wort.



Don't forget the wort because seriously, this stuff foams up FIERCE.



Once the hops have been boiled you're almost done. You should try to get the wort down to room temperature before continuing. I used a sink full of cold water but there are other methods that are faster. Add some water (4-5 liters in my case) to your sanitized bucket (if you don't know the importance of sanitizing your brewing equipment you shouldn't be making beer) and add the wort.





Mmmm.



Top the bucket up with water, 23 liters is the usual mark.



Now you've got to stir the hell out of this stuff.



It's good at this point to get a hydrometer reading (if you have one)to see what you're going to be working with. I think my hydrometer might be kind of broken or else I really screwed something up because this should be MUCH higher (1.075 is what I thought it would be close to)



Add the yeast you souped up earlier.



Add a lid, put the bucket away. I use a semi-open fermenter for my primary period then rack to a second bucket after a few days. Also note that I've got the bucket in a tub. The yeast is going to go to town on all the sugar in the first few days and there's a real chance it's going to foam so much it will overflow the container.



That's the hard part. I'll change buckets after 5-10 days and transfer it into bottles about 2 weeks after that but I don't have much more influence over the process at this point. I'll try to keep this updated with how it's going but unless something goes terribly wrong all the interesting stuff is done with. This is a new experience for me so I'm excited to find out how all the extra work pays off.

FIFA Fever!

It's been 4 years since the last flareup of my latent case of FIFA fever but it's back and there's nothing that can be done about it. It's a strange disease, characterized by an overwhelming compulsion to watch men in crazy uniforms kick a ball around while being deafened by plastic horn noisemakers. It's pretty rough but it runs its course in about a month. Hopefully I make it through with my hearing and ability to tell if someone is faking an injury intact.

I think there's something really special about soccer/football. It's always felt like the big secret that the rest of the world has always known about but North America is just getting the message on. It still hasn't really arrived yet but I think people are starting to get it more with each World Cup. Hopefully it won't be too long before we have an easy to access way to watch UEFA games and the Confederations Cup and all the other huge football events that go on. Once every 4 years doesn't seem like nearly enough for how much everyone seems to enjoy watching the games and picking their teams and even talking strategy and how well the players and teams are doing.

It wasn't always like this though. I was one of those young lads who laughed at organized sports. I'd played some ball as a kid but never really became someone who would watch anything on TV. It's only in the last few years that I've really come to appreciate the tension and fun of watching a good contest of skilled players. It's a beautiful thing when all the teamwork pays off during a good rush on goal in hockey or soccer. Everyone's got to know what their role is but also have to rely on their teammates to know theirs in order to find or make the holes in the defense. When it all comes together you know that it wasn't just a single shining star but a combined effort from everyone to make that opportunity happen.

It's a beautiful game, that's for sure and while it might be a bit blasphemous to the English fans out there I'm putting my support behind Maradona, Messi and the rest of the Argentinians. I suppose there are other teams that I should have a closer connection to but Argentina hasn't failed to deliver a fun to watch game yet. If they keep playing like this I think the'll have a real good shot at the golden cup.

Some Things Should Just Stay Dead

Oh the Alien Franchise. You've come so far since the ultra atmospheric Ridley Scott opus that defined the way I, and many other film viewers, look at horror and sci-fi in general. Unfortunately all that forward momentum has been steadily clawed back by the third and fourth movies in the series with Alien Resurrection failing to even keep pace with the overtly action oriented Aliens by inundating the viewer with a middling plot, ridiculous, motivationless characters (or caricatures) and an entirely unfrightening depiction of the Aliens.

To this day I still get a charge out of the way Alien blended sci-fi and horror while keeping the story relatively grounded. Sure there was a freaky alien and they were flying around in space but all the characters were basically space truckers. The alien itself was the first other species that mankind had come across which meant that there was a minimum of jargon and sci-fi tropes that the audience is supposed to put together through exposition or contextually. The space setting, however, provides the perfect location for a monster thriller. There really is nowhere to run. Alien Resurrection has ostensibly the same setting but there's nothing left to the tense atmosphere of the first movie. The sets and hallways are all so huge there always seems like there's a place to go. The plot itself is fairly wrote as well. Evil military scientists try to clone Ripley in order to get a clone of the Alien Queen so the can use it as a weapon. It's a lot of the same plot other Alien films have had but this one feels a lot like they tried to make Aliens again only with even more gratuitous action and less interesting characters.

All the main characters are apparently battle hardened bandit badasses and Ripley herself has be reborn as an ultra-strong, part-alien, one-liner spouting killing machine. She just roams around the movie being a deux-ex machina which is always great for maintaining suspense. All the other main characters seem to be one note shells as well. There's the dude in a wheelchair, the crazy black guy with all kinds of gun gadgets, the secret robot, the backstabbing scientist. Nothing even remotely surprising happens and all the characters seem to do well is shoot at the Aliens and be gritty. Ron Perlman and Winona Rhyder stand out, though Ryder comes off as a little whiny and fragile for reasons that I either missed or were never articulated. Perlman's presence in this movie is more indicative of the overall quality. It's campy and feels much more like a B-movie with standout one liners like "Who do I have to Fuck to get off this boat" and "Since when are you in Charge? - Since YOU were born without BALLS!" I would have expected a movie with Joss Whedon's name in the writing credits to have a lot better dialog but I guess the need for punchy, action movie dialog won out over witty exchanges.

All in all, the movie is more disappointing as a continuation of the Alien Franchise than it is as a mediocre action/sci-fi/horror flick. The relative quality of the other movies in the series makes the expectations for Alien Resurrection much higher than it could have really hoped to achieve. I probably would have been much more accepting of what this movie has to offer if it didn't purport to be part of a franchise I have a deep fondness for but with the whole package presented as it is I couldn't help but find it severely lacking.

AaaAAa! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity

I've been on a certain type of gaming kick the past while. Low narrative and high mechanics has been what I've been focusing on (fortunately, Steam has enabled this with a tonne of great deals). So when I heard about AaaaaaaAAaaaaaaaAaaAaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity I was interested.



The game itself is a unique concept. It's a basejumping game (which is this kind of activity) that plays like a first person flying game. I keep thinking Star Fox when I look at it though there aren't any enemies or plot to speak of. You just start on top of a building and throw yourself off. Apparently in the world of AaaAAaA!, reality is some Jeff Minter-esque acid trip with floating buildings and inexplicable catwalks and spinning iron I-beams. It makes things very convenient for basejumpers by providing a a crazy obstacle course towards the ground to anyone who jumps off a building. The objective is to make it to the ground or landing pad while racking up points which one gets by "kissing" and "hugging" buildings (approaching and staying close to buildings), hitting plates that are worth points, spray-painting certain buildings, and engaging spectators by giving them thumbs up or flipping them off, depending on whether they're fans or protesters. Mostly it's just falling stylishly, though.

There are about 80 levels in the game and they manage to do some cool stuff with a wide variety of difficulty. You start off pretty basically just plunging down linear corridors of buildings. As you go they make you weave around a lot more but also expect you keep up with the other score mechanics to reach certain point plateaus. At some of the more advanced levels you're diving through extremely narrow needle-eyes of obstacles while appropriately gesturing to spectators and spraypainting the right buildings. If you can't keep all of these things up you'll probably smash into a building which will either kill you straight out or send you flying out of control.

Honestly, I'd really like to be able to describe this game but between the crazy visuals and sound and sense of humor it kind of has to be seen at the very least to be understood (so here's a video). This game has really got its hooks in me. I like games that have simple mechanics but are able to do complicated and challenging things with them. If you're flying through some of the tougher levels, looking for the right route that will take you next to the most buildings with the most spectators and score plates you end up feeling your way though with a lot of instinct and twitch reactions to what lies beyond the next corner.

All the mechanics are enough to make this game worthwhile but the sense of humor really adds a level to the character of it. In addition to unlocking levels you can unlock videos which are mainly just preplayed levels with the WEIRDEST voiceover. The level of bizarreness of these reminded me of some of the cut-scenes from Amped 3. There's one titled "Grandma" which has a woman's voice describing how to make cookies, which is normal enough until she tells you to add your sons ashes to the mix and some male voice starts freaking out in the background. There's also a video that helps you meditate and another that I guess is supposed to be a failed take on the meditation one that has the narrator tell you that there's NO REASON to think that there are insects crawling all over your head and crawling into your nose and mouth. It's a super dark and bizarre sense of humor but it's played over the top enough to really work for me.

The game is $10. I think that's a hell of a deal for what you get here. Unfortunately it is such a specific style and type of game it really helps to know what you're getting into.

Speech From the Throne Commentary

Ahh. It's that time of year again when our political leaders stick their heads out of the ground and try to predict whether they're going to do anything for the next 12 months. That's right, it's time for Newfoundland's Speech from the Throne 2010 and I decided that I would break it down into bite sized pieces for the benefit of myself and my dear readers. Whoever you are.

Like any good throne speech, this one was a mix of government patting itself on the back and dropping little nuggets of information about what to expect from the year ahead. If you subscribe to the idea that they put all the big news up front this year is going to be about Child Care and Child Services. The key point in this section was an update that they are still working on the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services. They gave some projects that the department would be working on including a new "Early Learning and Child Care Strategy" and addressing the lack of foster homes.

Rounding this section of the speech out they wove in updates on Newfoundland's Poverty Reduction Strategy, which has apparently raised us to only third poorest province, and reiterated that they're working to stop violence against women with the "Respect Women" campaign. They also want to update the Human Rights Code (that's right the one from the United Nations which is apparently law here) to be a little more modern. Seeing as it's from 1948 (made law in 1971) a review might be in order.

So the section is called "Caring For Our Children" and they used it as a mashup of children's issues, poverty issues, women's issues and a policy rewrite. Maybe they could have picked a better header. Regardless, it's good that they're still making progress on the new department and they've got some strategies ready for it when it's finished.

Next was a litany of development updates. Tenders are still being used to stimulate the economy to the tune of 1.3 billion last year. Experts in certain money related fields, ocean tech and R&D are being cultivated. Work continues on mining development, Lower/Upper Churchill, oil exploration and extension. There was also some talk of improving access to services like the ferry, online access to registering certain documents, and some talk of improving air service within the province. Not sure what improving air service really means. Here's hoping it translates to lower flight costs. Aside from the air service thing, nothing really boat rocking here, though, it is good to hear where they're going with attracting industry.

Students might be interested to hear that Grenfell Campus is going to get some more autonomy from Memorial's main body. There's also a series of programs mentioned that focus on extending access of youth, women and disabled individuals to job opportunities. The Youth Retention and Attraction Strategy was a big one which has so far included a new Minister responsible for youth engagement and resources for employers and job seekers alike (jobsinNL.ca).

The environment even got a nod (but not much more than that) with some talk of sustainability, the "Newfoundland and Labrador Green Fund" and the upcoming Environment Canada review of the Assessment Act. The content of this section was pretty underwhelming to me. Maybe next year, Earth.

That's pretty much it as far as I can read into it. They're still working on the tourism strategy and some areas of the province are getting new medical equipment and mental illness/addictions treatment options (though they usually do). Maybe you could call this expectedly reserved, or at least a very business like approach to development. The primary industries got the most attention, as they usually do, but there were some plans for developing industries of expertise and making them appeal to younger employees. The social development stuff also felt like more of the same but I also can't really fault them for sticking with it if there's still a lot of work to be done and not overestimating what they can do in the span of a year.

Until next year,
May Divine Providence guide you in your deliberation.

What's on Your Daily Dish?

I can't decide whether Andrew Sullivan of the Daily Dish is extremely hard working or just has the easiest job in the world. Not that I want to go in this way with my blog but the guy updates with quotes or links about once an hour on popular issues of the day. It's kind of the perfect mix of big name (I love me some of The Atlantic), instant content and interesting issues. These days I feel like I've still got to watch my blogging output rate on Facebook and Twitter so I don't annoy my friends with a spam of irrelevant information.

Also I'm really not feeling the design of this blog anymore. I've been learning python and CSS lately so I may take another crack at redesigning (or modifying an existing design).

Thinking With My Hands - A Short Story

I started clapping as the curtains drew to a close. We've been clapping at performers for a few thousand years now. Far-be-it for me to be the first one to stop. Besides, I had enjoyed the show and felt that I should take part in this mass eruption of gratitude for the thing we had just seen. So, like everyone else, I started pounding my hands against each other.

The art of applause is one that most people seem to gloss over. Take right now for instance. The actors have come out and taken their bow. I feel that I've applauded enough. It wasn't a huge play. The venue was kind of small too. There's maybe a hundred people in here. But everyone else keeps on clapping. "How many are friends of the actors," I think to myself. Probably quite a few. I look around trying to judge how much energy the crowd has. A lot, apparently. The hand pounding goes on for another few moments. My palms are starting to get sore so I shift position a little. The mob sounds like they're going to die out soon. Thank god. I'd rather not look like the one ass who stopped before everyone else. But then, just as we're about to drop below that minimum decibel of applause, one person decides to pick it up again and the crowd is rejuvenated. The actors come out again and take a second bow. Oh boy.

I wonder if someone is going to start a standing O. Looking around I notice three or four middle aged people near the front. Probably the parents of the young actor who had a minor role in the second act. Sitting bolt upright and clapping vigorously. Sure enough, they get up. Here we go. Slowly at first people follow suit, standing and reinvigorating their clapping. Then almost everyone gets up. They get up awkwardly and a little confused, not really knowing why they're getting up but not wanting to be left sitting when the inevitable third bow takes place. As expected, once everyone is on their feet, the actors return to the stage, bowing and blowing kisses to the audience. A few of the actors have forced smiles, especially the leads who have seen a dozen mediocre performances bring the audience to their feet. Maybe they think about this kind of thing too. My guess is they try not to.

The curtains close again and within five seconds the room is silent. All the appreciation and enthusiasm might as well never have been there as people search for their coats and file out of their seats. I start to wonder if maybe these freely-given standing ovations are a way for the audience to perform; to vent the envy that we might have after experiencing real performers working their craft. "Look at me" they say with their sounds of skin on skin and willingness to leave the comfort of their seat, "I can express myself too. As good as any of you." The thought doesn't last long. Soon I'm being pushed and crowded out the door at the mobs pace, and man, are they in a hurry.

Derek Bailey's Carpal Tunnel

Not all the music I listen to is stuff I find pleasant. "Rewarding" is probably a better term for it. It involves music that deviates from the normal structure or conducts experiments with sound in other interesting ways. In this area, Derek Bailey is an artist I find rewarding who has done quite a lot to experiment with what an acoustic guitar can do. While most people are probably unfamiliar with Bailey's work he really was quite a large influence on artists like Sonic Youth, Pat Metheny and Wilco (once guitarist Nels Cline joined). People call his music "free jazz" or "avant-garde" or any of those other terms that are more sophisticated ways of saying it doesn't sound like real songs. Regardless of how you want to categorize him, Bailey is doing something different and doing it well. One of his last albums, Carpal Tunnel, is an excellent example of why this kind of music is worth knowing about.

Carpal Tunnel is actually a pretty tragic album. The last one released before his death in 2005, Carpal Tunnel tells the story of what Bailey did when he learned that he had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in his right hand. He could have gotten surgery but instead he took the opportunity to learn how to play all over again. All of this is explained in a rather rambling introductory track in which he explains how he can no longer hold a plectrum (or guitar pick to the rest of us) and has decided that it would be more interesting to learn to live with Carpal Tunnel rather than get surgery. The other 5 tracks are titled after how long he has been practicing with his new disability; 3, 5, 7, 9 and 12 weeks. It's pretty standard Bailey stuff if you know what that is but performed with increasing sophistication, accuracy and comfort.

One of the reasons this album is so interesting is that it's effectively a documentary on overcoming obstacles. Even by the 7 week track you can hear a remarkable improvement and fluidity to the music. It's like watching someone learn to walk again. It's also amazing to hear him construct his sound again and what elements that includes. Hearing what Bailey sounds like while he's stumbling then following his progress to regaining his talent is a fascinating way to identify what makes his sound so unique in the first place.

While certainly not an album for everyone (probably not even an artist for everyone) Carpal Tunnel does a great job of showing why experimentation of this type is worth paying attention to. It helps you think about why music evokes certain emotions and attitudes and shows that atonal music can be rewarding. It is also a compelling view into the process of reclaiming something important to you when you can no longer do it.Maybe you won't like it but you should at least know that it exists.

Links:
Laura from Ballads
Free Improv

Fortis Development Plan

St. John's, Newfoundland is a city that ferociously holds on to it's history. Its citizens, indeed many Newfoundlanders, will come out in force to defend the aesthetic value of their town. The row house; the crazy colours, the view of the ocean; all this is part of the "look" that so many people defend when a new development project comes and tries to add something to the downtown area.

Enter the controversy.

Fortis, a real-estate holding company that was established and has its head office in St. John's, wants to update one building (seen here) and build a new building next to it (this section, from the school of dance back to the current Fortis building). This is where it gets complicated. People don't want taller buildings in that area, further cutting off the view of the harbour. They also don't want the current buildings, many of which have had businesses operating out of them for decades, demolished. Many commentators say that Fortis simply CANNOT build there due to zoning regulations which cap the height of a building at four stories. Anyone who has been downtown knows that this rule is garbage. If you look across the street from the current Fortis building you'll notice a fairly tall 12+ story building. Other criticisms involve ruining the current viewscape and adding eyesores to an increasingly corporate downtown core.

The issue I'm most concerned about in this case is how St. John's is supposed to allow growth while still fostering culture. Many people will cite development projects in other cities (Halifax for example) that have ruined a vibrant downtown community by forcing out smaller character adding retail and restaurant locations. This is a valid criticism and if the Fortis expansion goes ahead the stores involved may have nowhere to go. The city of St. John's has already doomed many interesting stores through hamfisted city-works projects that destroy foot traffic in many areas. On the other hand there are many eyesores in downtown St. John's that have been rotting for decades and will never function again without massive renovations.

I'm not sure what's worse. St. John's stagnating or St. John's losing itself through development.

That's a guy who really loves his job

While doing some research today I came across this individual in the Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador's Report to the House of Assembly. For anyone who can't be bothered to find out what that is, it's a document that evaluates how the provincial government has been spending money over the past year and makes recommendations on how money can be saved or used more effectively.

A marine engineer at the Department of Transportation
and Works has been paid overtime totalling $303,000
for the five year period 2005 through to 2009 as
follows: 2005 - $31,000; 2006 - $42,000; 2007 -
$69,000; 2008 - $58,000; and 2009 - $103,000. This
employee’s regular pay during this period was
$296,000; therefore, this employee received $599,000
from the regular pay and overtime during this five year
period and received 102% of their regular pay in
overtime payments.

This person DOUBLED their annual salary through overtime work. Not only that, there's this individual. TOIL is "Time off in Lieu" which is when you take time off instead of being paid for overtime:

The regional manager of one of the Arts and Culture
Centres at the Department of Tourism, Culture and
Recreation had accumulated TOIL of $163,000 as at 31
March 2009. During the four-year period 2006 through
to 2009, this employee accumulated $88,000 as
follows: 2006 - $28,000; 2007 - $16,000; 2008 -
$19,000; and 2009 - $25,000. This employee’s annual
salary for 2009 was $55,000; therefore, this employee
had accumulated TOIL equal to 296% of their annual
salary.

Are they machines or fraudsters? Whatever the case I bet they have an interesting story to tell.

Link:
http://www.ag.gov.nl.ca/ag/sumBooklet/2009Summary/Summary2009.pdf

Sometimes you crave the experiences of others

Something I've been thinking about lately is the nature of entertainment. Specifically, I've been concerned with how pivotal the relationship is between those who create art and those who distribute and bring the attention of one another to creative works. I like to consider myself a repeater, a filter, if you will, for works that catch my attention. I don't know what makes me qualified or even if the things repeated are of value to other people but between the seemingly endless pool of movies, books, images and internet content, the world needs people to point out the merit of individual works more than ever.

Furthermore I believe that individuals tend to act more as receivers more than repeaters in this day and age. Great works are experienced by an individual and that branch dies. This reality is not new, nor is it wrong, but I personally believe that I owe it to the things that make me laugh or cry, wonder or cringe to spread these ideas with what meager resources I have.

Just today I have read something that made me cry: http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/8358
Something that made me laugh: http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/9228/23bb4447fa0fd7b87b66152.jpg
a lot of them actually: http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/4376/asymptote.gif
something that surprised me: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8480954.stm
and something that confused me while making me laugh: (Not safe for work) http://gamersweb00it.registerblog.splinder.com/post/1207121177/Fuck+One+Grand+Prix+Japan+-+The+Porno+Motorsports!+SOD

I also watched a lot of Star Trek (Original Series) and was amazed by how many modern TV shows and movies are still doing EXACTLY the same thing (albeit with significantly better production value).

I'll be the first to admit that I'm trying to piggyback on the hard work of others but entertainment to me is as much a function of the creators as it is the community who absorbs it. Even those who dismiss and deride works add to how we interpret them and continue on the life of the work.

The reason I say all this is that I've been beginning to think that I've got a lot more to say about many of the things I filter other than their existence. This is my statement of intent to start adding more to the works that enrich my life.

My Internet Shoebox

Ever had the opportunity to review the lists or projects you've made when you were younger? Most of us have old photos or notebooks but I'm getting to the point where I'm finding old web apps I've used that have the same nostalgia. The one I found today was Criticker a service that lets you rank movies then provides recommendations based on users with similar preferences and guesses what you'll rate it on a 0-100 scale. It's still pretty great for finding new movies in genres you already enjoy. Here's a list of the top 10% of my rankings back when I updated it regularly.

Tier 10 Films
Casablanca (1942) 98
The Good, the Bad and the U… (1966) 97
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 97
The 400 Blows (1959) 96
The Dark Knight (2008) 96
F for Fake (1974) 96
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) 96
The Third Man (1949) 96
Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004) 95
The Lion in Winter (1968) 95
Ratatouille (2007) 95
Chinatown (1974) 94
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) 94
The Godfather: Part II (1974) 94
Sin City (2005) 94
8½ (1963) 93
A Fistful of Dollars (1964) 93
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) 93
Metropolis (1927) 93
Unforgiven (1992) 93
Yojimbo (1961) 93

Aside from Glengarry Glen Ross, which I added just now, these were all added around 2007-2008. I find the list kind of foreign looking back on it. Some of the films like Dark Night, Sin City and Unforgiven I don't have the same reverence for. Others, like Metropolis, A Fistful of Dollars and The 400 Blows I still think are gorgeous and masterful blends of story and cinematography but they haven't drawn me back like other films farther down on my list.

It might be that my appreciation for movies has changed over the years but a lot of the films that I do hold in high esteem these days are still on the list, if a bit lower. I think perhaps that there's something desirable in having films with a slight flaw in them. Like a Persian rug, which are (or were at least) made with deliberate flaws as a symbol of human imperfection, a thing of great value and beauty should have some imperfection in it. Nothing that mars the overall presentation but grounds the work in some form of accessibility, to have one element that is familiar and easy. Maybe this is a preposterous plot or hammy acting or unbelievable effects but I still find Raiders of the Lost Arc to be more entertaining then The Dark Knight.

On the other hand maybe I'm just a jerk who likes laughing at dumb things. That might be closer to the truth.