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By TheophileEscargot (Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 07:30:49 AM EST) Reading, Watching, Me, MLP (all tags)
Watching: "Moonrise Kingdom", "Prometheus". Reading: "Moon Over Soho". Me: Berlin. Links.

What I'm Watching
Saw Moonrise Kingdom at the cinema, the latest ostentatiously quirky but uplifting Wes Anderson movie Well worth seeing if you like his other movies, good to watch.

What I'm Watching 2
Saw Alien prequel Prometheus 3D at the cinema. Bit uneven really. Some great 3D cinematography and impressive effects, introduces some interesting ideas though without doing much with them. However it's pretty unfocused and doesn't build suspense well, juggles too many characters, subplots and locations. I'm pretty easily scared even by soft horror-comedies like "Drag Me to Hell" and "The Cabin in the Woods", With this I closed my eyes for some bits, but I was mostly feeling "urgh yuck" rather than "aargh": it looked disgusting but didn't have much tension.

What I'm Reading
Finished Moon over Soho, second in the series about a magician/policeman based in London. Another good one, fun and entertaining. Not exactly original though, very reminiscent of the Dresden Files, and has a bit too much plot in common with the last one.

Me: Berlin
Had a few days holiday in Berlin with Girl B, who speaks German. Definitely handy to travel with your own personal translator, though I think she got a bit fed up with doing all the talking.

We saw some of the sights but concentrated mostly on Berlin's excellent museums. The Pergamon is very impressive, specializes in huge rooms with large chunks of ancient cities inside, including a gate from the Hellenistic city of Pergamon, and a procession street from Babylon. Also good was the Gemäldegalerie with a big selection of paintings including some big names.

We also got out a bit, ate out in local restaurants and saw an acrobatic act in a cabaret. Berlin has a good atmosphere, surprisingly chilled-out for a fairly large city.

Some pics.

Links
Socioeconomics. Could Greece leave Eurozone without defaulting? Why don't those in power listen to economists Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman?

Sci/Tech. Google takes over most above-the-fold screen real estate, comparison. Windows 8 is scary. Exercise doesn't help depression if you're getting other treatment. Hydrogen-powered drone to fly for days. Is pop music becoming sadder?

Video. Cassetteboy vs The Diamond Queen, alt links. The Vertical Video menace. Beethoven 5th visualized. Grey Bloke: congratulations.

Pics. Real life Banksy.

News/Politics. Businessman's shocking rant at Muslim airport worker: "Anthony Holt, 65, had become wound up after reading an article in the Daily Mail about the ‘victimisation of Christianity’ on a flight into Manchester." Anti-Jubilee protestor has hair set alight by firework at Newcastle EDL demonstration. Koch brothers increase academic influence

Articles. False fronts in the language wars. Stoicism in China, for libertarians, via. Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit . Maverick leaders: Silvio Berlusconi. Animal welfare in Georgian London. Charles Stross on SF and big ideas.

Random. Museum of Endangered Sounds. Survival tampon.

< On the making of a self-watering planter out of a plastic tub | Waiting and wondering... >
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Related Links
- Some pics
- Could Greece leave Eurozone without defaulting
- Why don't those in power listen to economists Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman
- Google takes over most above-the-fold screen real estate
- comparison
- Windows 8 is scary
- Exercise doesn't help depression if you're getting other treatment
- Hydrogen-powered drone to fly for days
- Is pop music becoming sadder
- Cassetteboy vs The Diamond Queen
- alt links
- The Vertical Video menace
- Beethoven 5th visualized
- Grey Bloke: congratulations
- Real life Banksy
- Businessman's shocking rant at Muslim airport worker
- Anti-Jubilee protestor has hair set alight by firework at Newcastle EDL demonstration
- Koch brothers increase academic influence
- False fronts in the language wars
- in China
- for libertarians
- via
- Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit
- Maverick leaders: Silvio Berlusconi
- Animal welfare in Georgian London
- Charles Stross on SF and big ideas
- Museum of Endangered Sounds
- Survival tampon
- TheophileEscargot's Diary
Amazon products


Moonrise Kingdom [DVD] - Universal Pictures UK (0 comments)
Our price: £5.00



Prometheus [DVD] - 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (0 comments)
Our price: £15.63



Moon Over Soho (Rivers of London 2) - Gollancz (0 comments)
Our price: £5.27

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Good mooning | 19 comments (19 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback
EDL by gazbo (4.00 / 1) #1 Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 09:20:33 AM EST
First of all: fuck the EDL.  Now, with that out of the way, I really don't like the headline of that story.  "Protester set alight" is designed to give people a very specific brutal image - but what actually happened? "...hair was set alight...".  OK, still pretty bad, but hardly what you expect from the headline.  Especially when it was actually because he was hit by a firework.

The EDL are nasty thugs, but in this case what they actually did was a petty act that resulted in "minor injuries" - to turn that into "protester set alight" seems like deliberate exaggeration that would make the Daily Mail proud.

I recommend always assuming 7th normal form where items in a text column are not allowed to rhyme.



Hmm by TheophileEscargot (2.00 / 0) #2 Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 09:58:08 AM EST
Headline is a bit sensationalist, I've edited the link text now.
--
It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?
[ Parent ]

If that's all there is ... by lm (4.00 / 1) #3 Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 11:18:00 AM EST
``Analyzing Top 40 hits from the mid-1960s through the first decade of the 2000s ...''

The mid-sixties seems like an odd starting point for the study. I'm also not certain that major vs. minor key is a good metric. The article points out pretty bouncy songs like the Turtles' So Happy Together. And songs like Peggy Lee's If That's All There Is are written in a major key.

Personally, I'm more likely to be drawn to songs written in minor keys. But I wouldn't necessarily say that they're depressing. My wife, on the other hand, would probably agree with the study's assessment. More than once, she's come into the room after I've had iTunes running for an hour or so to ask me if I was playing my suicide set again.

There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic


Berlin's awesome. by ammoniacal (4.00 / 2) #4 Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 01:01:39 PM EST
And really -- you should take a course in convo German. It's the easiest foreign language for an Englishman to learn.

You can't handle my complete attention.


I don't think it so easy by lm (4.00 / 1) #5 Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 01:38:58 PM EST
But then perhaps my problem is that German philosophers are harder to understand than French, Greek, and Latin philosophers combined.
There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic
[ Parent ]

German by ucblockhead (4.00 / 1) #7 Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 03:56:13 PM EST
I found it easy, but my only other language experience is Japanese, so it may not be a fair test.
---
[ucblockhead is] useless and subhuman
[ Parent ]

I haven't studied German as hard as I ought to by lm (4.00 / 1) #8 Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 04:22:28 PM EST
But I've given at least equal amounts of time to classical Greek, Latin, French, and Russian.

German was by far the hardest.

French was the easiest. The word order largely follows English. And most of the words are cognate or closely related.

Russian was the most fun.

There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic
[ Parent ]

Strange by ucblockhead (2.00 / 0) #10 Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 09:33:23 PM EST
What did you find difficult?  I found the close vocabularies really helped me.
---
[ucblockhead is] useless and subhuman
[ Parent ]

Word order was the most difficult for me by lm (4.00 / 1) #12 Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 10:11:04 PM EST
Unlike Latin or Greek or Russian, I found the German word order to be impenetrable.
There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic
[ Parent ]

huh by ucblockhead (4.00 / 1) #14 Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 11:46:08 PM EST
Must be differences in hour our brains work.  I have never had troubles with different word orders.  My memory sucks, though, so memorizing vocabulary is always torture.
---
[ucblockhead is] useless and subhuman
[ Parent ]

Philosophy isn't what I had in mind. by ammoniacal (4.00 / 1) #11 Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 09:36:06 PM EST
It's refreshingly close to English. Try again!

You can't handle my complete attention.
[ Parent ]

Closer than French? by lm (4.00 / 1) #13 Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 10:12:14 PM EST
I don't think so, not after the Norman invasion.
There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic
[ Parent ]

Anglo saxon words by ucblockhead (4.00 / 1) #15 Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 11:48:50 PM EST
Very few of the 200 most common conversational words are French.
---
[ucblockhead is] useless and subhuman
[ Parent ]

Translated by lm (4.00 / 1) #16 Thu Jun 07, 2012 at 05:53:03 AM EST
French: Très peu des 200 mots les plus communs de la conversation sont le français.

German: Nur sehr wenige der 200 häufigsten Wörter sind Französisch Konversation.

There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic
[ Parent ]

what's up by garlic (4.00 / 1) #17 Thu Jun 07, 2012 at 06:43:59 PM EST
with all the caps in the german translation?


[ Parent ]

That's normal by lm (4.00 / 1) #18 Thu Jun 07, 2012 at 08:27:36 PM EST
German capitalizes all the nouns.
There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic
[ Parent ]

Should have done by TheophileEscargot (4.00 / 1) #6 Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 02:20:37 PM EST
I had a teach yourself course on my music player, but didn't get around to it as was pretty busy before the trip.
--
It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?
[ Parent ]

Ridley Scott by lm (4.00 / 1) #9 Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 09:21:37 PM EST
``introduces some interesting ideas though without doing much with them''

I think that's fair to say of much of his recent work: G.I. Jane, Kingdom of Heaven, American Gangster, et cetera. There are a couple of exceptions, possibly Gladiator. But, for the most part, the depth isn't there.

There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic


That was by Scrymarch (4.00 / 1) #19 Thu Jun 07, 2012 at 11:37:02 PM EST
A better flying car article than most. Still chewing.

Iambic Web Certified


Good mooning | 19 comments (19 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

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