REID, ME

Sunday, December 20, 2009

I’ve heard it analogized to Dances With Wolves, but it’s more like Dune meets Fern Gully. Technically very impressive, and the plodding dialogue didn’t really bother me, but the whole story is really staggeringly unoriginal. The allegory to American imperialism was clear enough that we didn’t really need to be hit over the head (”some kind of shock and awe campaign”) with it. I’d also add that the strategic thought behind the Na’vi counterattack is extremely unimpressive—they’re aiming for tactical victory with no real long-term plan—but that’s arguably realistic.

Tyler Cowan

Yes, it is showing already in Leon, Nicaragua, as Bryan Caplan had predicted. You should see it. Cameron has absorbed a lot from Princess Mononoke. The aliens don't seem to trade much or accumulate capital. Like the Olympics ceremony in Beijing, it raises the bar for a lot of subsequent efforts. The crowd seemed unmoved by the theme of "las indigenas." It has interesting themes on disability and also the diversity of intelligences. The three hours go by very quickly. It's not perfect. People who can reach other planets still fire bullets from machine guns. Dubbing makes all the dialogue sound corny and thus it limits the impact of the real clunkers, which do come every now and then. I'll see it again, in 3-D next time.

Alex Tabarrok

It was entertaining but I was expecting to be awed by at least one scene, as happened in Terminator, T2 and Titanic, and I was not. The plot is identical to that of Battle for Terra, right down to the "tree of life." Many scenes I felt like I had seen before. Here is the helicopter gunship scene from Apocalypse Now, here is the men in robot suits battle scene from Alien (and one of the Matrix movies), here are the sky islands from Castle in the Sky, here we have the Dances with Wolves scene(s). I am all for homage but this was pastiche.

The aliens were gorgeous, leggy, blue fashion models. Nice, but Star Trek did the green alien girl thing forty years ago. Personally, I like my aliens to be a little bit more well, alien. All the way to another planet just to find that the girls are blue and the horses have eight legs instead of four? Sad.

I insisted on seeing it in 3D but the effect was not revolutionary and there is still some eye strain. In the end I would have preferred 2D.

I was entertained but I was not enthralled.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Tim Heidecker in odd(?) music video

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Turnip Risotto

Via Serious Eats

This was relatively easy and relatively tasty:

Ingredients

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 red onion, cut into 1/8-inch dice
1 1/2 pounds turnips, cut into 1/8-inch dice
2 cups hot chicken stock
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly grated
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper

Procedure

1. Warm the chicken stock in a sauce pan over medium-low heat.

2. Pour the olive oil into a large skillet and turn the heat to medium. Toss in the onion and cook until softened, about 10 minutes.

3. Add the turnips and cook for 2 minutes. Ladle in some of the hot chicken stock and cook until absorbed. Continue until all of the stock has been added, about 10 minutes.

4. Season with salt and pepper. Add the butter and grated cheese stir occasionally for a minute. Remove from the heat, garnish with parsley, and serve.

Ruins of Kita Daito

Sunday, December 13, 2009

My brain is open

From Wikipedia:

Mathematician Paul Erdős:

"Possessions meant little to Erdős; most of his belongings would fit in a suitcase, as dictated by his itinerant lifestyle. Awards and other earnings were generally donated to people in need and various worthy causes. He spent most of his life as a vagabond, traveling between scientific conferences and the homes of colleagues all over the world. He would typically show up at a colleague's doorstep and announce "my brain is open," staying long enough to collaborate on a few papers before moving on a few days later. In many cases, he would ask the current collaborator about whom he (Erdős) should visit next. His working style has been humorously compared^{[by whom?]} to traversing a linked list."

Economies of Agglomeration

Interesting piece on NPR's All Things Considered on the clustering of like businesses in cities and the economic rational behind it.

One of the points of the piece is that this clustering encourages differentiation. You either compete on price or you differentiate. Increased competition increases the variety of services and products offered which really just drives innovation. A functional large city really should be a place for innovation, even if that innovation is just an interesting design on a light fixture.

The Santa Fe art market sadly doesn't seem to follow this pattern. Why isn't there a wide variety of art here with so much competition? There has got to be a limit on how much native/folk/landscape art a small area can take right? It just makes the city feel that much more deliberate and sterile to me.

This also makes me wonder what negative/positive effects the internet will have on city life as people continue to shop online for products. Brick and mortar stores will never be able to compete with an online retailer on price so perhaps stores will only become more specialized and more innovative? That's a good thing right?

Saturday, December 12, 2009

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:

Long time the manxome foe he sought --

So rested he by the Tumtum tree,

And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'

He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

From Wikipedia:

In the Preface to The Hunting of the Snark, Carroll wrote:

“

[Let] me take this opportunity of answering a question that has often been asked me, how to pronounce "slithy toves." The "i" in "slithy" is long, as in "writhe"; and "toves" is pronounced so as to rhyme with "groves." Again, the first "o" in "borogoves" is pronounced like the "o" in "borrow." I have heard people try to give it the sound of the "o" in "worry." Such is Human Perversity.

”

Also, in an author's note (dated Christmas 1896) about Through the Looking-Glass, Carroll wrote:

“

The new words, in the poem "Jabberwocky", have given rise to some differences of opinion as to their pronunciation: so it may be well to give instructions on that point also. Pronounce "slithy" as if it were the two words, "sly, thee": make the "g" hard in "gyre" and "gimble": and pronounce "rath" to rhyme with "bath."