Movie Review : The Avengers

 Culture  2 Responses »
May 152012
 

Poster for The AvengersWhen I first heard about Marvel’s crazy idea for a multi-film franchise I thought it was one of the silliest ideas I had ever heard. But somehow, without really trying to, I have managed to see all of the prequel films that build up to this film’s main event, so I guess full credit (and box office returns) must go to the producers – the whole thing has been managed rather well.

For those keeping score at home, here is what I thought of the prequels:

Iron Man – excellent.
Iron Man 2 – disappointing.
The Incredible Hulk – not terrible but forgettable, I preferred the Ang Lee version.
Thor – extremely loud and silly, but watchable.
Captain America – even more silly, but took the premise and ran with it to entertaining ends.

Astonishingly, none of these films were aggressively stupid in the way that even the best superhero franchises tend to become after a while. So I had high hopes for The Avengers.

Hopes that turned out to be completely justified! The Avengers tells the story of all these guys finally meeting and eventually (spoiler alert) teaming up. As an adaption it is a great success, I am not sure the plot follows any particular existing story but it adheres much more strongly to conventional comic book structure than the typical film plot. All the explanation of who these characters are and where the came from has been neatly dealt with in previous films so The Avengers can get straight down to business.

The script is clever and Iron Man’s quips are as witty as ever. The story is simple, but appropriate for the material. Personally, I could have stood to see more Hulk (the new guy playing him nails it, but there isn’t enough time to flesh out the changes he is going through), and less Captain America however these are minor quibbles. Almost every detail is perfect.

Highly recommended if you like this sort of thing.

The Seven Realities of Social Networking

 Computer, Culture  No Responses »
May 082012
 

Every few months the same complaints about social networking sites appear in the press. Lack of privacy and control over who sees what is a common point of point of editorial hand-wringing. While these concerns are valid, directing them at social networking sites is misplaced, and shows a lack of understanding of the relationship these sites have with the public.

This post is an attempt to state clearly the realities of the situation. I am using Facebook as an example, not because Facebook is particularly bad, it is merely the most popular. Google Plus, MySpace, and even services like LinkedIn all share the same properties.

Reality 1: You Do Not Have a Facebook Page

No really, you don’t.

Facebook has a page on you. You occasionally log on and add more information to Facebook’s page about you, but neither the page nor the data is yours. You gave the data to Facebook when you posted it.

This is not a necessarily a bad deal. In return for maintaining Facebook’s page about yourself, you get a platform to broadcast your doings and to see Facebook’s pages about your friends and family. I don’t know about you but I enjoy both these activities and participate willingly.

Reality 2: You Are Not a Customer of Facebook

No you aren’t.

Facebook’s customers are the advertisers that buy advertising on the site, and the marketers that pay to access to the fantastic demographic data we have all provided. They are paying Facebook for this service, you are not paying anyone for anything.

I know you enjoy using the site as it is, but don’t get upset when Facebook decides to improve things for itself or its customers. The customer is always right, and you are not a customer. You are the product. Facebook gets paid providing access to you.

Reality 3: Facebook Owes You Nothing

They certainly do not.

You may have been a loyal Facebook user, diligently posting photos of your cat and that batch of cupcakes you made last month, but that doesn’t mean anything to Facebook.

You have, in fact, cost Facebook money. Server farms don’t grow on trees.

Each time you view a page or update your status, Facebook wears the cost in electricity and CPU time. But don’t worry, Facebook is willing to bear the burden to provide a better product to its customers.

Reality 4: Your Privacy is Not Facebook’s Problem

If you have uploaded something to Facebook then it is public. That is the whole point of Facebook. Sure there are privacy settings, but they just mean that Facebook makes a small effort not to show things you have marked private to random people. Nothing stops other people from re-posting the photo of you at the Christmas party, or even just printing it out and sticking to your car. If you had wanted it to be private then you wouldn’t have put it on the Internet.

Likewise, if one of your friends tagged you in a photo that you don’t want to be associated with (a common source of privacy issues), that is not really Facebook’s problem either. You have a problem with your friend.

Reality 5: Nothing is Really Removed From Facebook

You can check out any time you want, but you can never leave. Removing stuff from Facebook does not guarantee that it will not be accessible. Your data will still exists in uncounted backups, caches, redundant servers and log files. That is not even taking into account the memories of the hundreds of people who might have seen it before you “deleted” it.

If you didn’t want it seen, you shouldn’t have uploaded it.

Reality 6: Facebook Is Not Picky About Who It Deals With

Despite what I have written here, Facebook does at least pay lip service to the illusion of privacy but the same can not be said of the many developers that piggyback on its service to provide apps and games. When Facebook tells you that installing a particular App gives the developer access to your profile, they mean it. You have even less of a relationship with these developers than you do with Facebook. Your trust is a commodity to them, spend it wisely.

Reality 7: Facebook is Not (Especially) Evil

A terrible cartoon of the Facebook logo stealing your dataFacebook is just a simple company trying to make its way in the universe. By all means, use and enjoy Facebook without concern (perhaps even “like” this page). But Facebook is not your friend, and they have their own interests to look after. And besides, they take nothing that you don’t give them.

Your relationship with social networking sites will be better if you remember that.

Social Media Integration

 Computer  No Responses »
May 012012
 

I have decided to try out social media integration on my blog for a while, because I am curious to see which posts people enjoy the most. My previous attempts failed, so now I am keeping it simple. From now on you will see both a Facebook “like” button and a Google+ “+1″ at the foot of each of my musings.

A logo made by mashing together the facebook and google+ logoThe Google button is a lot less intrusive than the Facebook solution, hitting +1 is just a small nod of approval. I think the only place it shows up is if you specifically look at your likes on Google+ itself and I am not even sure if other people get to see the things you have +1′d. The total number of +1s is all anyone sees.

Clicking the Facebook “like” button actually posts an item to your Facebook timeline. This is great for me, since your friends see that you like this link and may visit themselves, but you might not like your “friends” knowing what you like. It depends on how much you value your privacy.

Incidentally, unless I am your friend on Facebook I don’t get any special information about who clicked that button. On the G+ side, I don’t know if you +1′d me even if I am following you.

So if you like a post, click away. If you don’t like a post, leave a comment. If you don’t care, watch some cats playing on YouTube. Everybody wins.

John Banks Election Scandal

 Uncategorized  No Responses »
Apr 302012
 

John Banks was given a very important job when government was formed after the November election, a position named Minister with Special Responsibility for Keeping His Month Shut for the Next 36 Months and Not Embarrassing the Government.

Would all of you who picked 26 weeks in the nationwide pool please raise your hands to claim your prizes. Judges will be around shortly to check your tickets.
Continue reading »

Hunua Falls

 Places  No Responses »
Apr 252012
 

Hunua Falls in the Hunua Ranges

For some reason I have always imagined Hunua as being a great distance from Auckland, so it was with some surprise that I glanced at a map last week and learned that it is just down the motorway. A voyage of discovery ensured.

The Hunua Falls themselves are very nice, and only 100m away from the car park, but the park itself is quite large and the tracks are well maintained.

Panoramic photo of Cossey's Reservior in the Hunua Ranges

We ended up doing a 3 hour loop (Massey/Cossey) that climbed up through native bush to one of the four reservoirs in the Hunua Ranges that supply most of Auckland’s water. The track itself is nothing too special, with only one or two good lookouts, but it is pleasant enough. Being a water supply dam, Cossey’s Reservoir is only viewable from a distance which is probably just as well. I don’t want to know what I am drinking.

Ambury Regional Park

 Places  No Responses »
Apr 122012
 

Some sort of wading bird at Ambury Regional ParkIn my quest to reach new parts of Auckland, I traveled the short distance to the jewel in the glittering crown of Mangere Bridge – Ambury Regional Park.

Parts of this park are a farm which is not very interesting for adults, but there is an excellent foreshore walk that takes in some nice bird sanctuary areas with a lot of wading birds.

Being flat and next to mudflats, Ambury Park is not the most scenic of places (and part of the park consists of the old sewerage settling ponds, now covered in suspiciously lush grass) but it does make for a relaxing walk in the sun passed paddocks of sheep and through small stands of native bush. I am glad I went.
Panoramic photo of the Pukaki Lagoon at Ambury Regional Park(click to enlarge)

Public Access 5 – Art at the Silo 6 Park

 Culture, Places  No Responses »
Apr 102012
 

The silos in the Wynyard Quarter have been an enigma to me ever since the park was opened to the public. They stand tall but inaccessible, guarding their secrets…

Art exhibition in the silo at Wynyard Quarter

…until now, because some artists have used the space for a funky collaborative project – Public Access 5. Like all collaborative projects, much of it is rubbish but there are some great things to see. The best works involved video projectors wrapping the strange shapes of the silo internals with writhing images.

It is not a big exhibition so you can easily take it in on your lunch break. If nothing else it is a chance to finally see the interior of the mysterious silos. Now I just wish you could climb to the top.

Public Access 5 runs until Friday the 13th of April, 1012.

Film Review : Attack the Block

 Culture  No Responses »
Apr 092012
 

The poster for Attack the BlockSomewhere in South London, a gang of inner-city youph are out mugging passers-by when a meteor crashes into a nearby car. When they go to nick whatever is in the busted open vehicle they discover the meteor was inhabited by a strange dog-like creature. So they kill it.

Unfortunately for them, the creature had friends on the way…

Attack the Block is an entertaining take on the alien invasion genre, with the young protagonists fighting off large beasts with flick knives and baseball bats on a large council estate. Unlike most films, the gang is not glamorised and is shown to be pretty pathetic as they flee the creatures on BMXs and scooters, falling back on the few resources available to them. Each character is well rendered, and a lot of the humor comes from interplay between the cast in an impenetrable argot.

The creatures themselves are fantastically conceived – big and scary in a way that transcends the low budget. The way they slink through the smokey corridors (are the lights flickering? why yes they are) is fascinating and Attack the Block doesn’t make the mistake of letting the audience get a clear look.

Some of the best parts of the film are when the gang members’ tough-guy affectations slip and you see hints of their normal existence when they are not out on the streets. But Attack the Block never lapses into social commentary, keeping the focus on the matter at hand – avoiding the tougher gangs, the police, and aliens in more or less in that order.

Suspenseful, fast paced, and funny. Highly recommended.

Guava Jelly

 Food, my projects  3 Responses »
Apr 082012
 

When life gives you lemons you make lemonade. Lemons are out of season but my guava tree is laden with fruit and it is easier to pick it off the tree than to deal with the purple mess when the fruit drops to the ground. Hence, guava jelly:
A small jar of guava jellyIngredients:
Guavas, lots in various stages of ripeness.
Sugar, more than you think. No, even more than that.
Pectin, don’t worry I won’t tell
A Lemon
You will also need a jelly bag or similar device.

Method
Wash the guavas and remove any stems and leaves. Put the fruit in a large pot with a little water, cover and boil gently until the fruit is all soft and split – about 20 minutes or so. Add more water if required. Make sure all the fruit has opened, you can help things along by mushing it gently with a potato masher, but don’t get too vigourous.

Let the mixture cool then pour it carefully into the jelly bag sitting in a large bowl. It is possible to use a pillow case, or even a folded tea towel for this if you don’t have a jelly bag – they do the same job. The guavas will turn anything they touch purple but the colour washes out. I wouldn’t use my best pillow cases though.

Tie up the jelly bag and hang it over the bowl in an out-of-the-way place for 12 hours. Gravity will force the juice out, leaving the pulp behind. You will feel a strong urge to squeeze the bag – resist temptation! If you force the pulp trough the bag the jelly will become gritty.

Transfer the juice to a pot and bring to the boil. Let the juice boil down a little depending on how strong you want the jelly to taste. Jellies need both sugar and pectin to set properly. Technically the fruit contains enough pectin to set the jelly if you add enough sugar but this has never worked for me. Using store bought pectin ensures a good result and allows you to use less sugar. Even with the extra pectin you still need a lot of sugar – about 3 cups of sugar for every 4 cups of juice should do the trick, depending on the sweetness of the fruit. Pectin also needs an acid to work, so add the juice from the lemon.

Boil the mixture vigourously for a few minutes then boil gently to let the juice reduce for 20-30 minutes. After a while you should see the mixture start to congeal around the edges, this is a sign that the jelly is nearly ready. Use a spoon to skim off the worst of any froth that appears on top of the mixture. Let it boil some more, then pour into pre-heated jars. Hopefully the jelly will set in the follow hours. If not, boil it up some more.

Serve with dark meat or strong cheese.

Film Review : John Carter

 Culture  No Responses »
Mar 272012
 

Still frame from John CaterAfter fighting in the American civil war (on the wrong side), cavalryman turned prospector John Carter is mysteriously transported to Mars, arriving in a time of great calamity. War is raging here as well, can Carter’s presence change things for the better?

According to some reports the film is a costly flop and I can see why. Up until a couple of weeks ago there was a giant billboard for this movie right next to the train station I walk to each morning, a billboard that made John Carter look like one of the stupidest films ever made. The trailer also looks terrible, and I am not sure why they went with the most generic title possible. I went into the theatre with low expectations.

I am glad to say that the advertising campaign is misleading, John Carter is actually pretty cool. Based on a very old book by Edgar Rice Burroughs (who appears as part of the framing story), its hero is forced into all sorts of action-packed scenes as he bounds around Mars aided by his Earth-gravity adapted muscles. The pacing is excellent, the plot covers a lot of ground but everything is well explained and the film knows when to stop, unlike a certain other human-hanging-out-with-large-aliens-and-horning-in-on-the-princess film I could mention. The characters are only drawn with the broadest strokes, but the ink is colourful and such a pulpy canvas cannot be expected to take a finer brushwork.

A decent addition to the list of watchable popcorn films. Recommended.

White Cloud Worlds at Lopdell House Gallery

 Culture, Places  No Responses »
Mar 252012
 

The Lopdell House Gallery in Titirangi is (somewhat bizarrely) showing works by New Zealand fantasy artists, most of whom seem to work for Weta digital.

It is strange experience to walk around a gallery viewing images that would normally be wrapped around a cheap paperback, or printed on a piece of cardboard as part of a game. In fact, at least one of the artists has done work for Magic The Gathering. I know this because they framed a collection of his cards.

All the work is of a high standard but it has that same interchangeable fantasy style that is common in a genre where most of the work is (I assume) commercial commissions. Despite all the art being from this country there is not much recognisably New Zealand in this art. A few images depict Maori legends, but in a very generically stylized fashion. It is not that the images are bad, just uninspired although thankfully, the exhibition is light on scantily clad warrior-babe cliché. Still, it is a bit of a thrill to see full sized images of fantasy scenes in a proper gallery setting.

White Cloud Worlds is at the Lopdell House Gallery until the 15th of April, 2012.

Book Review : The Quantum Thief

 Culture  No Responses »
Mar 252012
 

The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
ISBN: 0575088877

In the far post-human future, Jean le Flambeur’s consciousness rots in a virtual holding cell, forced to play endless games of prisoner’s dilemma as punishment for a lifelong career as a master thief. The book opens with Jean being unexpectedly broken out by Mieli, who has one last job for him but first he has to retrieve the rest of his memories. Meanwhile, both his erstwhile jailers and a detective named Isidore Beautrelet is doggedly pursuing Flambeur.

Cover art for The Quantum ThiefSumming up the plot of The Quantum Thief is not easy. There is a lot going on, several different factions are working to their own ends, characters are often allied but secretly sabotaging each others efforts. The setting itself is a dazzling series of fantastic locations moulded by transhuman societies. For instance, most of the action takes place on Mars, where everyone’s perceptions are modified to include gevulot, a mechanism to ensure privacy by simply not allowing actions or events to be perceived unless the viewer has been expressly given the right to see and remember them via a private key system.

In fact, The Quantum Thief contains so many ideas crammed into it that there is not really room to explore the implications of any particular facet. There are no long infodumps of exposition but nearly every page contains mention of some new term or concept and the reader just has to keep up the best as they can. However, The Quantum Thief pulls off a neat trick by playing fair with the central mysteries of the plot – an alert reader can figure out revelations paragraphs before the characters can.

The Quantum Thief is not perfect. Personally I find stories of uploading mind-states, magic quantum machines and post-singularity societies pretty unconvincing, but all scifi demands some suspension of disbelief and The Quantum Thief certain rewards readers who make that effort.

Recommended if you like this sort of thing.

Book Review: The Fuller Memorandum

 Culture  No Responses »
Mar 182012
 

The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross
ISBN: 978-0-441-01867-3

Bob Howard is having a bad week. Being an agent for the supernatural “Laundry” branch of the British secret services is tough enough at the best of times, but he has already messed up one mission and things back at the office are getting hairy. Both an important document and Bob’s mysterious boss go missing at the same time, and the list of people who want Bob dead is growing longer by the hour.

The cover art for The Fuller MemorandumThe Fuller Memorandum is the third in the Laundry series, but this is my introduction to the books. It is based on the amusing-but-not-quite-original conceit that all the things that Lovecraft and his ilk wrote about actually exist and the British government has a agency dedicated to defending humanity against them and their cultish minions.

According to Wikipedia, each book in the series is written as a pastiche of a different classic spy novelist. This is potentially clever idea, but I found the style really grating in some parts of The Fuller Memorandum. Much of the plot revolves around the interactions between Bob and his equally talented agent wife, but the scenes of domestic comedy did not gel well with unspeakable horror that drips off adjacent pages. The tone was just too uneven for me to really get into the story.

Having said that, The Fuller Memorandum was an imaginative and fast moving read with some neat ideas. There is enjoyment to be had if you can get passed the tone, and perhaps it makes better reading if you have been following the series. Maybe I was just disappointed that The Fuller Memorandum was not more similar to A Colder War, a neat novelette from the same author based on a similar premise but apparently not part of the same series.

Not really recommended unless you like this sort of thing. A Colder War however is recommended so you should click that link right now.

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