Archive for Culture
March 26, 2008 at 22:25 · Filed under Culture, Politics
I just came across this essay in an article on Salon.com. It’s a very interesting essay by John Maynard Keynes called The End of Laissez-Faire and in my view it is a must read. Anybody who is not familiar with Keynesian Economics and how it fundamentally differs from the current Austrian School as championed by the likes of Milton Friedman and Alan Greenspan would do well to read Keynes if only to see that there are other options. I find Keynes’ writing style awkward and a bit hard to read, but his theories are undoubtedly interesting and his intellect is impressive.
When I was in school, I’m sure I never imagined I’d be reading economics papers for my own amusement. I’m getting old.
March 16, 2008 at 22:21 · Filed under Culture, Politics
The BBC is reporting that JPMorgan is not only bailing Bear Stearns out using money from the New York Federal Reserve, but before the markets even open on Monday, they’re poised to buy Bear Stearns for $2/share. On Thursday Bear Stearns closed at $57/share. This is, by any measure, a complete collapse of one of Wall Street’s biggest banks/investment firms. I wonder if this is an isolated situation or a harbinger of things to come.
I just finished reading The Party’s Over. I must say I’m not feeling overly optimistic about either the short or long term tonight…
February 13, 2008 at 02:06 · Filed under Culture, Entertainment
I just got home from the late show of There Will Be Blood and I must say I don’t think I enjoyed the movie. In fact it’s the first movie I’ve seen since The Passion of The Christ that I didn’t really feel good about sitting through. Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as The Thirteenth Floor or anything, but it really didn’t make me feel good. Daniel Day-Lewis’ character Plainview is simply too dark for my tastes, he’s a genuine psychopath (probably in the clinical sense) and the acting is a bit too convincing for my taste.
That being said, the acting was excellent and the film, at least as a piece of art in the abstract sense, was quite impressive. I haven’t read Oil!, though from what I gather Paul Thomas Anderson only borrowed loosely from Upton Sinclair’s book so even if I had it might not have prepared me for the tone of the film. I’m a definite fan of Anderson and while I enjoyed his lighter fare (e.g.: Boogie Nights or Magnolia) much more than this film it has done nothing to lower my view of him as a screenwriter or director. I don’t think I’d give it a recommendation but I certainly wouldn’t discourage anybody from seeing it either. A+ in cinema, C for entertainment.
January 31, 2008 at 22:16 · Filed under Culture, Entertainment, Technology
I guess it’s somewhat comforting to know that Bono isn’t the only figure from U2 who has decided to devote his life to being a caricature of a twit. While I have some sympathy with the fact that there is a legitimate case that part of the digital music scene involves theft, every time some fool like Paul McGuinness shoots off his mouth and completely glosses over the real and very difficult issues surrounding digital rights and other technological “paradigm shifts” the issue is buried in yet another layer of total shite. For some reason hearing U2’s manager demand that U2 is somehow being “hurt” by iPods and ISPs makes me want to gag.
Apparently the problem could be solved if we all just dropped our iPods and bought Zunes. I think the most galling of his ill-conceived rant is that he equates all of the various components of the digital music spectrum from ISPs, users, MP3 player manufacturers and Silicon Valley hippies as equally evil. I have all the time in the world to talk to small off-label artists who actually feel the pain in their wallets, but for the most part they are amongst the savviest and are benefiting the most from this shift in power and consumption trends.
Anyway, here’s a link to a CBC article. Here’s a link to Steve Jobs’ somewhat more considered view on the topic for good measure.
January 28, 2008 at 07:40 · Filed under Culture
According to the BBC, California is starting a programme to sell medical pot using vending machines! Not something I thought I’d ever see. I still find cigarette vending machines strange.
The rules are a bit draconian, you need fingerprints, photos and there is a security guard, but still it’s an interesting story for a Monday morning.
January 26, 2008 at 22:52 · Filed under Culture, Internet
Thought I’d point out that I just added a link to MIT World. It’s an excellent site with quite a bit of video content and excellent lectures from various MIT courses and campus events.
January 26, 2008 at 12:33 · Filed under Culture, International
According to The Star, a Texas assistant district attorney was caught using the term “Canadian” as a replacement for derogatory terms for black people. It’s a bit of a strange article, but worth a quick read.
January 21, 2008 at 20:30 · Filed under Culture, Internet
Just thought I’d post a note about timeshifting for CBC Radio 1. I wanted to listen to tonight’s episode of Dispatches but for reasons beyond my control I wasn’t near a radio at 7:29 EST. The good news is that Dispatches is a carried nationally, so all you have to do is dig up a western audio stream (such as Calgary) at the appropriate time and bingo, you have radio timeshifting! Nothing very complicated, but for those of you who listen to the radio a lot or, like me, miss a lot of radio programmes this is pretty nifty. Of course in many cases you can just download an MP3 or Real Audio version of the show these days and the penetration of these formats are growing.
The only downside to the streaming option is that you have to use Windows Media, but I’ve heard some rumblings that this may be changing in the not too distant future…
January 20, 2008 at 20:02 · Filed under Culture
I just took the Test the Nation quiz over on the CBC website in a move of solidarity with my fellows who have to be in the office tending the deluge of incoming web traffic tonight. (Though in retrospect all I managed to do was generate additional traffic!) In any case it turns out the theme is pop culture and I managed to score a 53/60. Admittedly I just guessed randomly on several of them and on a few others I picked whatever I thought was the most likely answer (there’s one question with Lost and 24 as possible answers and I’ve never seen either show), but I was surprised that I scored that well. I guess pop “culture” permeates further than I think
