January 2007 Archives

Nothing thoughtful, just something I wanted to get out of my chest. Heinze is reportedly considered to be offloaded either during the transfer window or the end of the season. He, to his credit, has stated that he wants to fight for his place.

As far as I'm concerned, he doesn't need to justify his place in the squad - he's a terrific player. Evra is getting better, and he's getting a run because Heinze was out for a while, not because he's miles better.

I'm feeling the same way I felt when van Nistelrooy was sold - I'm inclined to believe that Fergie is simply rotating his squad and giving Evra a run out than really having any real problems with Heinze. However, if Heinze really leaves, I'll be unhappy. Very unhappy. So unhappy I may burn all my Man Utd shirts and toss my TV in the bin. I'd even give it a kick or two for good measure.

Variety has reported that HBO has bought the rights to make George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire into a TV series, with each book set to be used as fodder for season.

ASOIAF is my ultimate fantasy work - the best fantasy series I've read, period. And guess what - a legion of fantasy fans feel the same way. This is sacred stuff, this. If they mess this up like SciFi Channel's treatment of my beloved Earthsea, I will, well, be unhappy.

My immediate thoughts are:
1. Stop bothering GRRM already! He's bloody late with the next book as it is.

2. The series is good, of course, considering the source material. But there is always this fear that it will fall short of the books. I'm pretty damn sure it will. I hope I'm wrong, of course, but then I'm so seldom wrong. That's why I have a blog.

Actually, I'm not a heartless rabid fan. I won't begrudge him his hobbies and other work, you know, the comics tie-in, Wild Cards anthologies, his NFL fixation. No problems. He is still human, and he needs his distractions to fuel his imagination.

But as a rabid fan nonetheless, I sometimes do wish he'd just get on with it.

Here is an article that discusses DRM on the iPod and iPhone, and how it locks you into Apple's solutions. Nothing new here, but more of an issue for people who can buy from iTunes, which doesn't include people like me.

This article is an interesting refresher on DRM music, and highlighting it against the ongoing backdrop of general cheer and jubilation on the unveiling of the iPhone.

There are people who advocate against DRM totally. I agree with that, but there are also valid points for using DRM solutions. I mean, I don't agree with DRM, but I can see why there'd be support for it. Blasphemy? Think about it. Suppose for a second that you're a content creator. You are a singer, for instance. Or an author. You work long and hard at your craft, and distribute it to the masses. You want them to buy you stuff of course. However you realize that your neighbour and your good friends have already got a copy of your work, *without* paying for them. How would you feel?

It's just that I'm writing a piece of software I intend to sell, and I won't be too comfortable if it's available just everywhere. Writing a book is something I would love to do one day, and sure enough, if I'm making money off it, I'm not so sure I'd be happy to have the ebook edition of my book floating around.

The trouble with all this noise about DRM is the majority of the people out there, especially the ones who make the most noise, is they are content consumers, not content providers, not content creators. To really know how DRM came to be, one has to step into these people's shoes.

Someone might invariably shove a Cory Doctorow to my face. Fair enough. But is everyone as far sighted as Cory? I know they need to be, but in reality, are they? Cory goes out of his way to advocate for freedoms in this regard, and props to him, no question about it.

If there was an affordable avenue for me to buy my music, I'd buy what I want. And I suspect there are plenty of people out there! I already buy my ebooks and audiobooks, when I know if I try hard enough I can get them for free.

What hasn't been said about the iPhone?

This is probably going to be the first in a series of posts in which I explore my thoughts since the announcement of this device. I'm not just going to talk about the device itself, but also about mobile devices in general, plus my own digital device needs. I find myself asking if I can indeed fit in the iPhone in my very exacting gadget requirements, which strictly speaking, the iPhone doesn't meet. I'm also thinking about the nature of a great packaging and can a strong user interface influence buying my decision?

I've always told everyone who'd listen not to buy an iPod. Here in Malaysia, where one of the major features for iPod usage, the iTunes store, is not available to us, it takes a way a huge determining factor for purchasing the iPod. What else is there to the iPod without the ability to purchase songs and TV shows on an affordable basis? There are other products out there offering similar (if not better) features than the iPod, similar form factors, and most importantly, at a price that won't have us all choke on our coffee.

I will get to all these soon.

TIME has compiled a list of Top Tens in various categories, appropriately named TIME 25 Top Ten 2006. They have categories such as books, comics, songs, albums, TV shows, podcasts and others (there are 25 of these Top Ten).

What do I think of this book list? I'm a booklover, but I don't have a pulse in the happenings in the publishing circle for 'critically acclaimed' contemporary fiction. However, one of my favs, David Mitchell, is listed for his latest. The list also made me think about how books can be listed as serious fiction when the publisher doesn't classify it as such, although strictly speaking the nature of the story can actually be considered science fiction.

I think I have to vent on this genre-based bias one of these days.

Other lists such as songs cover people I've never heard of. Great place to start searching for new stuff. Arctic Monkeys I've heard a lot of, but never got the chance to lay my hands on their albums. Mental note to self on that.

Once in a while you get an epiphany so intense, that you either immediately seek someone to talk to about it, or to somehow record it - writing it down, perhaps - just so the moment is captured, is forever remembered, and is shared. Today I have had such a revelation, and I must write it down or I will simply burst into tiny fragments more numerous than all the stars in the galaxy (which, I've learned from Stephen Hawking, is pretty damn a lot).

Here, I'm not talking about the time I finally figured out how to work the sensor taps they have installed in all the mall toilets nowadays (which I do). Nor am I talking about finally understanding the importance of including Moral Studies in our universities as a prerequisite module for a degree of any kind (which I don't).

I'm talking about something most of us deem so trivial and so mundane, that most of you will probably snicker at this curious thing that has made me so eloquent. The epiphany I have is about the a motion picture you may have even seen - Contact.

A little background: Contact is a scifi book written by Carl Sagan, and was adapted for film sometime ago, directed by Robert Zemeckis and stars Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey. The story is about how Dr Eleonor Harroway, a preeminent researcher and astronomist discovers signals emanating from deep space, presumably from intelligent lifeforms seeking to make contact. The signals are deciphered, and what follows is a journey of discovery, of mankind's hopes and fears, and ultimately, perhaps surprisingly, about faith. The whole film is about faith - about holding on to your beliefs, and discovering just how people from polar opposites in philosophy can come together to understand a universal truth about faith.

I remembered that I loved the movie the first time I saw it, and took away memorable things from it such as Foster's performance, and the strong story. Watching it the second time, however, allowed me to see it with different eyes - a little more maturity, some background on the celestial bodies thanks to a recent reading of Stephen Hawking's book A Briefer History of Time, and a more jaded sense of movie appreciation in general.

I take for granted that the movie didn't butcher the story from the book too much, as Hollywood is wont to do. I've not read the book, but I've now seen the movie twice, the second viewing just ended as I started writing this. What I got from the movie this time around is simply fantastic. We see Eleanor grapple with early tragedy that fuels her current motivation, her stance as a scientist and her need for proof and her distrust of the concept of faith. The interplay between that principle with the other central character in the film which happens to be the 'spiritual advisor to the White House' (hah! A concept of a moral compass! I'm reminded of the phrase 'Who died and made you the arbiter of truth?'). As Eleanor finally faces the issue of faith heads on, you begin to feel things you'd never feel while watching Star Trek.

The movie also explores the concept of an alien civilization, and how they ways may be completely out of our sphere of comprehension. It forces us to think of the possibility that despite our best efforts, we may not be able to truly understand the intentions and messages that an advanced civilization will tell us. Of course, Sagan uses this as a plot device and turns on its head the direction back to its central theme. The contact sequence really made me think. Suppose we discover that ants have gained sentient consciousness, but they are unaware of the universe of humans. They are sentient enough that they start sending out messages (by way of bread crumbs arranged in gigantic letters on the kitchen floor) seeking confirmation of an existence of a lifeform possibly larger than itself. What would we do as the human race to communicate back to the ants? Reply? Clean up the bloody mess? Will the ants understand?

And Jodie Foster. Aaah, Jodie, Jodie. There are pretty faces, there are talented actresses, there are celluloid thespians par excellence, and there is Jodie Foster. And to think I've not seen her in Silence of the Lambs. She is, without a doubt, the best actress of her generation, certainly one of the best actresses alive today. I can't think of anyone being able to pull off what she has done with her character in Contact. If you've seen Contact a long time ago, and pooh-ed and paah-ed my statement - I challenge you to watch it again all the while studying the range of emotions she brings about in the film.

There were so many moments. Some of them: When she made her pitch for funding to restart her project - passion. When she makes her case to the selection committee - vulnerability. When she's forced to explain herself - helplessness and railing against her disbelief in asking her audience for faith - the very thing that she didn't believe in. Magic.

Contact is definitely the best science fiction film that I have ever watched - bar none. Yes, against every fiber of my being, I have to admit - it's better than Star Wars. I put forth the movie's merits based on the story, the themes, the message, the wonder it evokes, the emotion it brings, and the joy of appreciating a top talent at the peak of her craft. As a story, if this is standard Sagan fare, he's just got himself a big fan. As a movie, this is masterful direction and a tour de force of entertainment. Zemeckis has made some of the best movies I've seen, and today's viewing simply cements that perspective.

If I'm not wrong, Contact garnered no awards that I'm aware of, and certainly no recognition of the incredible, *incredible* performance Foster put into her character. It simply proves the sort of general bias typically shown towards genre movies. To those who shun this movie on the basis of it being a science fiction story, well, I only have this to say: you probably watch movies for their ability to engage you, to make you think, and to entertain you. This movie does that. What keeps you away? Aliens?

I cry out against the unfairness of it all that this movie isn't as well known as it deserves to be.

Wait, wait. Any review or reasonable evaluation, epiphany or not, has to have a measure of fair highlights of the subject in question's shortcomings. To lend an air of respectable balance, you understand. To this I say I wished that they didn't cast Matthew McConaughey just so he wouldn't be totally blown away by Foster's performance. The contrast was almost embarrassing. Okay, okay - there was this part at the end which I thought spoilt the film's overall theme on faith, and I felt the movie would improve if the 15 second scene was actually out of the story.

Now it's way past my bedtime, and I know I will pay for it tomorrow. Plus I'm coherent enough to know that this isn't the way I'd like my objective reviews to be - this is simply too lopsided, maniacal, subtle-less, even fanboy-ish to be taken seriously. But it's also the way I'm feeling about the movie right now, and I have to capture this moment, have to store it for posterity. You know, just like an epiphany.

Man, what a moment.

p.s. After writing this, I did a little fact checking and found out that the movie did indeed win some awards, so I'm happy to say that my crying out has been assuaged... somewhat.

Hello hello and welcome to the New Year. It hasn't so far started with a bang, so what else can you do but welcome it with book purchases? Yes, the psychotic book buyer has struck again.

Here then, is my haul yesterday.

The Wizard, Gene Wolfe
City of Saints and Madmen, Jeff Vandermeer
Gifts, Ursula Le Guin
Fables: Arabian Nights (and Days) - Volume 7, Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham

Sweet sweet stuff, especially The Wizard. I've waited damn long for this one to come out in paperback - I've had The Knight for ages, and didn't start on it because of this missing half.

The completist that I am, I will also show you two other books I bought new year end 2006, in the damn warehouse booksale that somehow pulled me back for the third time.

Death of an Ordinary Man, Glen Duncan
Freaky Green Eyes, Joyce Carol Oates