Recent Readings
Having a bit of time, but short of cashflow, I am going over books I have stocked up over some time without being able to get to open even the first page. These include things like Herodotus' Histories which I haven't read since I was 14, and that was in a Japanese translation. I also have the Koran sitting next to my bed, not because I am an aspiring Terrorist - I'm not in anyway shape or form - but because one must know the enemy, and again I don' think I've read English translation of that book. I read a Japanese translation when I was 16-17. I went through a phase of reading *spiritual* texts where I read books on sutras such as the 'Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra', and also the 'Bhagvad Gita' which I was given by a high school teacher intent on warping my fragile little mind (Yes that's you, you freakozoid Mrs. Gosbell!). I guess I was going through a kind of 'spiritual research phase' before I settled on a long period of Central State Materialism and arguments at parties about being brains in a vat.
Anyway, I'm sticking my head through 2 books at once, for reasons only known to my eternally bad reading habits. One is Aristophanes' Penguin Classics edition "'The Clouds' and Other Plays" which is a hoot, but being drama, I need to go very slow in order to figure out how it gets played. I'm also reading Susan Faludi's 'Stiffed', which is an unfortunate coincidence as she goes through describing unemployed white males of South California, and frankly, I am part of the jobless throng, so it kind of stings. :)
The Susan Faludi book is an eerie read as she travels way 'out there' in order to get her facts straight. In the process she abandons easy categories and characterisations she has inherited through feminism and tries to come at the issue of masculine identity and an increasingly consumerist society. In the process, what she identifies about the US Aerospace industry is something we should make note.
People in Susan Faludi's book testify that the US aerospace industry that grew out of the WWII experience was essentially there to absorb the people coming back from the great war, to give them a position in society, so as not to let them sink into the depths that the Great Depression left their fathers. And so the Aerospace industry became one gigantic, work for the dole scheme where vast majority of workers actually didn't have anything to do, but were given jobs nonetheless, and got paid a lot of money to do it.
The structural change that swept through American Industry in the 1980s in large part under the Reaganomic mantra was to sweep aside the vestiges of this system. While the anger felt by men that Faludi chronicles is kind of interesting, it also shows that for the entire 50s, 60s and 70s, there was a generation of people who had jobs, and pretty well-paying jobs at that, doing essentially not much. This conforms to the 80/20 rule that 80% of any system's function lies in 20% of the system. That is to say, the other 80% of the system is contributing to only 20% of the result.
The US Aerospace industry Faludi describes is an industrial monolith used by the government to pay off the generation that fought WWII, but beyond that generation, all bets have been off. The reason structural unemployment is rising in many countries is not because of the economic rationalisation alone; it's because those jobs weren't really real to start off with. They were mechanisms by which a Keynsian Govenrment could dispense money to the people. The Promise of Space, was actually a big red herring. What does this mean for us? It means programmes such as the Space Shuttle programme was a crock, because it was always intended to be a crock.
Now this is something I have long-suspected, and wise readers have postulated; and partly why issues to do with the Military industry Complex (including the Kennedy Assassinations) keep coming up for discussion on this site. Faludi's findings strikes at the raison d'etre of our blog here. For, if the Aerospace Industry is indeed an elaborate kind of work-for-the-dole scheme and nothing else, we don't really have a chance of getting off this rock. We're just waiting for the next shuttle to blow up killing seven astronauts. It's just an elaborate, morbid version of the New Years' Fireworks on Sydney Harbour.
- Art Neuro
A Gen-X View of the Universe.
"The Issue Isn't Pussy, It's Monkey" - from The Right Stuff
Film, Cinema, Movies, TV, Music, Rock
2004/05/31
Keeping Up With The Joneses, Keeping Ahead Of The Zhangs
The Pentagon has released its annual take on the Chinese military and space capabilities. Their take on it sounds a little paranoid, but again, a little paranoia is probably a healthy thing.
My main man in pinstripes Derek Jeter has busted out of his slump somewhat. Essentially he's had a torrid week of hitting and his Average is up above .200, a.k.a. the Mendoza Line. Just as he went into this season-recovery project this week, Aaron Gleeman at The HardBall Times wrote this interesting article about good batters who struggle. Very neat stuff:
Amen to that. :)
Acts Most Unspeakable and Fowl
Check out this one. I don't know why beastiality stories get such a high rating. What's a little hard to understand is that:
Okay. If the hen had consented, it was a bestial(?) hen; but how would they have known? How could they know?
And did they cook it & eat it afterwards? Do I even want to go there?
- Art Neuro
The Pentagon has released its annual take on the Chinese military and space capabilities. Their take on it sounds a little paranoid, but again, a little paranoia is probably a healthy thing.
China's strategy for the developing world seeks to expand the scope and depth of its relationships, primarily as a means to secure access to natural resources and markets, but also to build influence and political support in multilateral bodies.Getting into the Swing of Things - A Case Of Better Late Than Never
For example, the DoD cites one Chinese observer who points to Beijing's work with Brazil for satellite technology and with India for computer software.
In addition to weapon components, Russia continues to cooperate with China for technical, design, and material support for numerous weapon and space systems.
Over the past decade, Russia has been the primary source of foreign military technology, although China has also benefited significantly from transfers and sales of defense and defense-related technologies from Israel, France, Germany, and Italy.
For the past 5 years China has sought to diversify its sources of foreign technology -- to include military technology -- in an effort to avoid over reliance on a single source for military technology and to reduce its dependence on the United States for dual-use and civilian technologies.
My main man in pinstripes Derek Jeter has busted out of his slump somewhat. Essentially he's had a torrid week of hitting and his Average is up above .200, a.k.a. the Mendoza Line. Just as he went into this season-recovery project this week, Aaron Gleeman at The HardBall Times wrote this interesting article about good batters who struggle. Very neat stuff:
At some point though, it's just no longer that early. We're coming up on 30% of the season being completed. For Jeter to get his batting average to .300 by the end of the year (in 625 at-bats), he would need to hit .343 for the rest of the season. To raise the average all the way to his .317 career average coming into this season, he would need to hit .366 from here on out.On May 30, Jeter is at .220, right above the Mendoza Line. Gleeman concludes:
All of which is a long way of saying that, yes, it is early, but it's just not that early.
There is still time left in May and Jeter just might get on a roll this weekend and end the month hitting .230. As of this morning, he has hits in six of his last seven games and he is hitting .333 during that stretch. And, of course, he has back-to-back three-hit games. If he doesn't continue to hit well this weekend though -- if he's still hovering around .200 when June begins -- recent history won't be on his side when it comes to ending the season with a lofty batting average.
...
That's not to suggest that Jeter finishing this month at .209 is going to signal the end of his days as a good hitter, but it's interesting nonetheless. It would seem as though this weekend is pretty important for Jeter. A few good games could put him past the Mendoza line for good and get him away from comparisons to the sub-.210 group. A couple of bad games though, and he's right back to .200, and being a ".300 hitter" is going to be pretty damn tough this year.
I'll say this ... if anyone can overcome this slow start and finish the year hitting .300, it's Derek Jeter.
Amen to that. :)
Acts Most Unspeakable and Fowl
Check out this one. I don't know why beastiality stories get such a high rating. What's a little hard to understand is that:
The hen was slaughtered after the incident.
Okay. If the hen had consented, it was a bestial(?) hen; but how would they have known? How could they know?
And did they cook it & eat it afterwards? Do I even want to go there?
- Art Neuro
2004/05/28
Mystery for the Ages
Aging is one of those drags in life. To paraphrase 'Sick Boy' in 'Train Spotting' it's the unifying theory of life itself. One minute you have *it*, then you don't have *it* anymore. Swedish Scientists have been doing some research and this article has this to say about it:
And so it goes.
Burn Baby Burn, You Piece of Sh*t...
Burning biomass instead of coal to generate electricity in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been proposed in Brussels.
The End of Collusion
Meanwhile, this report has come in from America where fuel prices have hit record highs. Free-market advocates always point out that as oil becomes a scarce commodity, its prices will rise, and therefore modify people's consumption patterns. While car manufacturers have finally gone for selling new technology that significantly reduces oil consumption in the guise of the Hybrid cars, oil companies are trying to use their expertise with oil to come up with a supply of Hydrogen fuels. They may find the challenges of this task more difficult than they think. However it should be noted that the consolidated position of using fossil fuels exclusively that was maintained by the collusion of the US oil and US automotive industry has been broken. Car manufacturers are chasing the consumer demand for lower fossil fuel consumption. Energy companies are having to look to supply consumer demand. There is hope now, however little it may be.
Now, to get rid of redundant SUVs and AWDs from urban roads...
The Russian Front
The Russians keep supporting the ISS with their space program using the Soyuz rockets and Progress unmanned crafts. While it's the case that it's no big deal, it is also true that no news is good news. Big news is usually bad.
- Art Neuro
Aging is one of those drags in life. To paraphrase 'Sick Boy' in 'Train Spotting' it's the unifying theory of life itself. One minute you have *it*, then you don't have *it* anymore. Swedish Scientists have been doing some research and this article has this to say about it:
"It seems to be a universal phenomenon in mammals that you have this damage to mitochondrial DNA as you get older," said the study's senior author, Nils-Goran Larsson at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
"But I and many others thought this was just a secondary phenomenon," Larsson said. "I think the importance of our paper is that we actually show these mutations can indeed cause several changes associated with aging."
Other scientists say the Swedish experiments clearly show that a high rate of mutation in mitochondrial DNA has an effect on aging.
"But that does not mean all aging is caused by mutations in mitochondrial DNA," said David Finkelstein of the U.S. National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health.
And so it goes.
Burn Baby Burn, You Piece of Sh*t...
Burning biomass instead of coal to generate electricity in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been proposed in Brussels.
Using biomass, a type of fuel made of materials such as wood and manure, instead of coal to generate electricity could lower the world's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and create jobs, a report said Thursday.Well, that's great I can look forward to a job in the energy sector, literally shovelling sh*t. :)
The World Wide Fund for Nature, which wrote the report with the European Biomass Industry Association, said in a statement that production of biomass would create hundreds of thousands of jobs while helping to reduce CO2, which contributes to global warming.
"The report indicated that this could reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main global warming gas, by about 1,000 million tons each year -- a figure equivalent to the combined annual emissions of Canada and Italy," the statement said.
The End of Collusion
Meanwhile, this report has come in from America where fuel prices have hit record highs. Free-market advocates always point out that as oil becomes a scarce commodity, its prices will rise, and therefore modify people's consumption patterns. While car manufacturers have finally gone for selling new technology that significantly reduces oil consumption in the guise of the Hybrid cars, oil companies are trying to use their expertise with oil to come up with a supply of Hydrogen fuels. They may find the challenges of this task more difficult than they think. However it should be noted that the consolidated position of using fossil fuels exclusively that was maintained by the collusion of the US oil and US automotive industry has been broken. Car manufacturers are chasing the consumer demand for lower fossil fuel consumption. Energy companies are having to look to supply consumer demand. There is hope now, however little it may be.
Now, to get rid of redundant SUVs and AWDs from urban roads...
The Russian Front
The Russians keep supporting the ISS with their space program using the Soyuz rockets and Progress unmanned crafts. While it's the case that it's no big deal, it is also true that no news is good news. Big news is usually bad.
- Art Neuro
2004/05/27
Don't Try This On Your Home Planet
There's always more to be said on the subject of the great die-back that killed the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretacious Period. Here is an article covering the scenario where an asteroid imapcts on the planet and wipes out most species within hours.
Knee Update, Life Update
I'm still hobbling around, but now I'm gettnig around without crutches for longer distances. It's such a drag being a cripple as well as being an unnemployed bum. :) It's also a drag not being able to play baseball. Now that I'm confined to sedate activities for most hours of the day, I really miss getting out there and hitting, running around, throwing, yelling... generally living through a second adolescence every Saturday. On the upsaide, I'm getting re-acquainted with my CD collection, especially the albums I forgot I had. It's always nice to rediscover such non-gems as Stewart Copeland's 'Sound track to the Equalizer' and the 'dead period' David Bowie albums.
Long Slump
Derek Jeter is still struggling and nobody has a clue why. I thought I was having a bad year, but the Clutch King of the Post-Season is doing it tough in the regular season hitting below the Mendoza line, at .189. The New York Times has this to report, which I found very enlightening.
Speaking of Struggling Stars
I missed the NSWRU has dumped Matthew Burke from its squad, dated the 17th. The NSWRU with its usual hamfisted way made the generally right sort of noise, but it still looks bad.
Yet, on the 25th, The ARU announced its Test squad facing Scotland and included Burke. I think my 90s Rugby watching was spent with the rise and fall of Matthew Burke. This is probably his last Test hurrah. Godspeed Matthew Burke, it's been a great career. :)
Key Psycho Moment
In my script, I wrote the line for Johnny Rocco, "All the crimes I ever did, I learnt from television." Today, I find this article.
- Art Neuro
There's always more to be said on the subject of the great die-back that killed the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretacious Period. Here is an article covering the scenario where an asteroid imapcts on the planet and wipes out most species within hours.
For more than a decade, most researchers have been convinced that an asteroid was responsible for the death of the dinosaurs. Recently however, a handful have argued that a combination of effects -- an asteroid along with perhaps increased volcanic activity and climate change, or even a second asteroid -- caused a slow demise of the giant animals.It seems to me, if the crater created by that impact is the Gulf of Mexico, then one would have sufficed.
Knee Update, Life Update
I'm still hobbling around, but now I'm gettnig around without crutches for longer distances. It's such a drag being a cripple as well as being an unnemployed bum. :) It's also a drag not being able to play baseball. Now that I'm confined to sedate activities for most hours of the day, I really miss getting out there and hitting, running around, throwing, yelling... generally living through a second adolescence every Saturday. On the upsaide, I'm getting re-acquainted with my CD collection, especially the albums I forgot I had. It's always nice to rediscover such non-gems as Stewart Copeland's 'Sound track to the Equalizer' and the 'dead period' David Bowie albums.
Long Slump
Derek Jeter is still struggling and nobody has a clue why. I thought I was having a bad year, but the Clutch King of the Post-Season is doing it tough in the regular season hitting below the Mendoza line, at .189. The New York Times has this to report, which I found very enlightening.
Jeter's Slump a Mystery With Few CluesYeah, well, he's still my favourite current MLB ballplayer; after all those amazing moments in the post-season I've had the pleasure of seeing, how can I diss him now?
By TYLER KEPNER Published: May 25, 2004
Derek Jeter took the question and drove it right back up the box. Was Jeter surprised, a West Coast reporter asked last Thursday, to have hit a home run off the Anaheim Angels fireballer Bartolo Colón?
"No," Jeter said. "I am capable of hitting."
The people standing around him laughed, but Jeter, the Yankees' proud shortstop, did not.
Mired in the worst extended slump of his career, Jeter insists that he is as confident as ever, and that there is no reason for his .190 batting average.
"If there was a reason, I would have figured it out a long time ago," Jeter said Sunday in Texas, after going 1 for 5 to bring his latest slump to 5 for 45. "Sometimes you get hits, sometimes you don't. There's nothing more to it than that."
The leading theory, advanced mostly by people outside the team, is that Jeter is jealous, nervous or preoccupied because Alex Rodriguez is playing beside him. Jeter greets this notion with a blank stare and incredulity.
"Why would that be?" he said. "We're on the same team. I don't see how you could compete with someone on the same team. I'm just not getting a lot of hits. You can't read too much into it."
Manager Joe Torre also rejected the notion that Rodriguez's presence has in some way thrown Jeter off stride. If it were true, Torre said, then he has been misreading Jeter for as long as he has known him.
"I'd have to change my evaluation of Jeter if this is what's contributing to his bad year," Torre said. "We all have an ego, but he's never worried about someone else getting attention, because there's always someone every year coming on board to get attention. This kid, if that's the case, then I don't know him."
Rodriguez says he tries to be supportive of Jeter. "We're just real positive with each other,'' said Rodriguez, who got off to a miserable start of his own this season but is now hitting .292. "I'm giving a lot of positive reinforcement. Just stay aggressive."
If anything, Jeter should be hitting much better with Rodriguez batting directly behind him. Fearful of putting Jeter on base in front of Rodriguez, pitchers usually give Jeter something to hit. He has walked only twice in his last 13 games and is on pace for 693 official at-bats, 12 shy of the major league record.
The walks have been important; one of the two recent ones came with the bases loaded, and the other started a three-run rally in the ninth inning on Friday. But Torre does not want Jeter to necessarily draw more walks - he has 12 for the season - because that would be asking him to be less aggressive.
"That's not him," Torre said. "I don't want that to happen. He's not going to walk much hitting in front of Alex. They're not going to put him on."
Jeter, who endured a career-worst 0-for-32 stretch in late April, has tried extra work. He called for early batting practice last Wednesday in Anaheim, working intensely for 30 minutes in the batting cage.
But if the hitting coach Don Mattingly sees anything wrong with Jeter, he is not saying. To Mattingly, there is nothing wrong at all.
"He's swinging the bat all right," Mattingly said before Sunday's game. "I think he's fine. We just need to get him hot. You can't get back the past. No matter what he does for a little while, he's going to look like he's struggling. He's got to do it over a long period of time."
Jeter is in such a deep hole that he will have to overachieve to hit .300 for the season. If he maintains his current average of 4.28 at-bats for every team game, Jeter would have 509 remaining at-bats in 2004. He would have to get 173 hits - a .340 average - to hit .300.
If Jeter hits .317 (his career average before this season) the rest of the way, he would end up at .284. He has never hit below .291 in a full season.
First baseman Jason Giambi, who is out with a sprained right ankle, spent much of last season experiencing what Jeter is now going through. Bothered by several injuries, Giambi never approached his career average, then .309, and finished at .250. But Giambi says Jeter has time to recover.
"He can get as hot as anybody in the game," Giambi said. "He's going to get hot this year sometime. It's just a question of taking good at-bats. Probably the hardest part is you can't look at your numbers. You can't worry about them; they're going take care of themselves.
"He puts together a good two weeks, he's going good, because he can throw out as many multihit games as anybody."
Jeter, who said he was not injured, has had more than one hit in only one of his last 10 games. He entered the current trip in a 1-for-19 skid, then went 4 for 26 as the Yankees split six games with the Angels and the Rangers.
He has hit well at times and been robbed - a fly ball to the center-field wall in Anaheim last Tuesday, a sharp grounder swallowed by Alfonso Soriano in Texas on Saturday. Jeter got some revenge on Soriano, his former double-play partner, when he made him pay for dinner that night.
Jeter is the Yankees' captain, and by all accounts he has not brooded. "Derek is the same guy every day,'' the third-base coach Luis Sojo said. "He's the same guy whether he's hitting .320 or .180."
That is important, Jeter said. He often repeats the adage that you can tell a lot about people by how they handle adversity.
"I don't like to see it when a guy's going well and he's joking with everybody, and when things go bad, he doesn't want to talk to anybody," Jeter said. "I never understood that."
Torre has resisted giving Jeter a day off, saying he has considered it only once. The Yankees are in the middle of a stretch in which they are off for 10 Mondays in a row, and Jeter said those days gave him enough of a break.
"The days off have been there," Jeter said. "You're not going to swing better sitting on the bench."
The problem is how to make Jeter swing better, or how to make his good swings translate into hits. For a while, if not for the rest of the season, the scoreboard will remind him of his poor start every time he comes to bat.
"I'm trying not to look," Jeter said.
Speaking of Struggling Stars
I missed the NSWRU has dumped Matthew Burke from its squad, dated the 17th. The NSWRU with its usual hamfisted way made the generally right sort of noise, but it still looks bad.
Yet, on the 25th, The ARU announced its Test squad facing Scotland and included Burke. I think my 90s Rugby watching was spent with the rise and fall of Matthew Burke. This is probably his last Test hurrah. Godspeed Matthew Burke, it's been a great career. :)
Key Psycho Moment
In my script, I wrote the line for Johnny Rocco, "All the crimes I ever did, I learnt from television." Today, I find this article.
- Art Neuro
2004/05/26
She Lives in Mojave in a Winnabago
So goes a line from one of Frank Zappa's songs. Well, they are designating the first 'non-Federal' spaceport right near where frank Zappa grew up. Talk about copping some Cosmic Debris. The Space Port will allow vertical launches to take place.
Now this, is the kind of development the Australian Government could be making. Should be making. Would be making if it had a space policy beyond which broadcaster owns which bandwidth of a communication satellite. And before Mr. Conservative Weasel remarks about the shortfalls of an ALP policy, we're blaming *everybody* in Australian federal politics for a total lack of Space Policy.
It's Already coming up to June!?
There's also going to be a spacewalk out of the ISS in June.
We wish them luck.
Art + Politics = Power
Just wanted to comment a little about Michael Moore winning the Cannes Jury Prize with his film 'Fahrenheit 9/11'. Jury selector Quentin Tarrantino says Moore didn't win it for the politics but for the artistry in the work. Well, I beg to differ there Quentin. It's a pretty damned political statement when you take the position that a film is a well-made film, but it's truth-claims are redundant to the decision. Because that way lies Leni Riefenstahl and 'Triumph of the Will'.
Now, as a film-maker, I'm okay with that. In fact, I am okay with any of Leni's comments to excuse her from her involvement with the Nazis. I think only other film-makers will appreciate this, but in the business of making films, the only thing that matters is the film. Moral concerns, political concerns, these take a back seat to the task at hand.
So, is this a good thing? Moralists will always say no, because what value is there in a film when it helps Nazis? The film-maker makes a different bargain with the devil. It's always the film. A hundred 'Triumphs of the Will' do not kill people; people with guns do. But I wanted to say, the Cannes Jurors are making politics aplenty by giving this film a prize, even though they are ostensibly giving it the jury prize for its artistic merits.
In fact the notion of a 'documentary' film is pretty dodgy anyway. Moore's claims in the film could be all wrong; as some of his claims in 'Bowling for Columbine' were indeed incorrect. But can you really say, "the film maker lied to me?" I mean, aren't fiction movies always doing that? If 'Triumph of the Will' is nothing but Nazi propaganda bunk (which it is by popular consensus), isn't it likely that Moore's film is also political bunk by the same logic?
I haven't seen the film, so I'm not going to make any judgments on the film itself (I will say that I'm looking forwards to watching it, as I understand that it is very funny indeed). However, I just wanted to point out the dodginess of the Tarantino claim, as well as the inherently dodgy nature of 'documentary' film making.
- Art Neuro
So goes a line from one of Frank Zappa's songs. Well, they are designating the first 'non-Federal' spaceport right near where frank Zappa grew up. Talk about copping some Cosmic Debris. The Space Port will allow vertical launches to take place.
Now this, is the kind of development the Australian Government could be making. Should be making. Would be making if it had a space policy beyond which broadcaster owns which bandwidth of a communication satellite. And before Mr. Conservative Weasel remarks about the shortfalls of an ALP policy, we're blaming *everybody* in Australian federal politics for a total lack of Space Policy.
It's Already coming up to June!?
There's also going to be a spacewalk out of the ISS in June.
We wish them luck.
Art + Politics = Power
Just wanted to comment a little about Michael Moore winning the Cannes Jury Prize with his film 'Fahrenheit 9/11'. Jury selector Quentin Tarrantino says Moore didn't win it for the politics but for the artistry in the work. Well, I beg to differ there Quentin. It's a pretty damned political statement when you take the position that a film is a well-made film, but it's truth-claims are redundant to the decision. Because that way lies Leni Riefenstahl and 'Triumph of the Will'.
Now, as a film-maker, I'm okay with that. In fact, I am okay with any of Leni's comments to excuse her from her involvement with the Nazis. I think only other film-makers will appreciate this, but in the business of making films, the only thing that matters is the film. Moral concerns, political concerns, these take a back seat to the task at hand.
So, is this a good thing? Moralists will always say no, because what value is there in a film when it helps Nazis? The film-maker makes a different bargain with the devil. It's always the film. A hundred 'Triumphs of the Will' do not kill people; people with guns do. But I wanted to say, the Cannes Jurors are making politics aplenty by giving this film a prize, even though they are ostensibly giving it the jury prize for its artistic merits.
In fact the notion of a 'documentary' film is pretty dodgy anyway. Moore's claims in the film could be all wrong; as some of his claims in 'Bowling for Columbine' were indeed incorrect. But can you really say, "the film maker lied to me?" I mean, aren't fiction movies always doing that? If 'Triumph of the Will' is nothing but Nazi propaganda bunk (which it is by popular consensus), isn't it likely that Moore's film is also political bunk by the same logic?
I haven't seen the film, so I'm not going to make any judgments on the film itself (I will say that I'm looking forwards to watching it, as I understand that it is very funny indeed). However, I just wanted to point out the dodginess of the Tarantino claim, as well as the inherently dodgy nature of 'documentary' film making.
- Art Neuro
2004/05/25
'Not Mine' Kampf
Mr. Peter Raubal is a distant relative of the late and not-so-crash-hot-dictator Adolf Hitler. It turns out he would be able to sue the German government for back royalties, seeing that he is the heir to Adolf Hitler's estate by a process of elimination. For personal and moral reasons, this person has declined the blood-money. His late father Leo Raubal, on the other hand sounds like a nut-bar NAZI holdover.
Which is sort of funny and sad. Certainly if the Raubals were the heir to the Hitler '(mis)fortune', then they would also be the guy the Israeli government would chase after for gazillions in damage payouts and an apology.
- Art Neuro
Mr. Peter Raubal is a distant relative of the late and not-so-crash-hot-dictator Adolf Hitler. It turns out he would be able to sue the German government for back royalties, seeing that he is the heir to Adolf Hitler's estate by a process of elimination. For personal and moral reasons, this person has declined the blood-money. His late father Leo Raubal, on the other hand sounds like a nut-bar NAZI holdover.
Hitler died with no immediate heirs but Leo Raubal was one of his half-sister Angela Raubal's children. Maser said Leo Raubal long considered such a lawsuit before his death in 1979. Bild am Sonntag said royalties could be worth millions of euros.
"Yes I know the whole story about Hitler's inheritance," Peter Raubal told Bild am Sonntag in what the paper said were his first public comments on the issue. "But I don't want to have anything to do with it. I will not do anything about it. I only want to be left alone."
Which is sort of funny and sad. Certainly if the Raubals were the heir to the Hitler '(mis)fortune', then they would also be the guy the Israeli government would chase after for gazillions in damage payouts and an apology.
- Art Neuro
2004/05/24
Worried journalists
For some time I've been saying the level of journalism in the last decade and a half has stunk. I first started the noticing the decline in informativeness of news services when the Beijing students were marching against Deng Xiao Ping. In those days I worked at the ABC in Gore Hill and was privy to the news services coming in from the world. At the same time, I was a bit of an info junky, dutifully buying my newspaper and following events as best I could. I found the coverage of the Sydney Morning Herald opaque at best, uninformative, uninsightful and largely lacking in perspective, worst of all, Peter Ellingsen's reportage focused on his emotional response to events of the day while Peter Smark sent back glib observations about the Chinese being Chinese, so they would inevitably do something drastic. Ah, the memories of 1989! In the following years of the Gulf War I and the Balkan wars, it has seemed increasingly the case that the bottom line has dictated that reputable papers no longer send their best reporters, they buy lines off AP and Reuters.
So today, I find this article, which seems to me, a case of "too late to notice, bud." And even then, they miss the point. The simple facts of the matter are, we have worse journalists who are less-educated and more ideologically motivated for left or the right, far more so than their predecessors, who are getting paid less to do work of a far lesser quality. We get what we pay for, because we never really wanted to be informed.
- Art Neuro
For some time I've been saying the level of journalism in the last decade and a half has stunk. I first started the noticing the decline in informativeness of news services when the Beijing students were marching against Deng Xiao Ping. In those days I worked at the ABC in Gore Hill and was privy to the news services coming in from the world. At the same time, I was a bit of an info junky, dutifully buying my newspaper and following events as best I could. I found the coverage of the Sydney Morning Herald opaque at best, uninformative, uninsightful and largely lacking in perspective, worst of all, Peter Ellingsen's reportage focused on his emotional response to events of the day while Peter Smark sent back glib observations about the Chinese being Chinese, so they would inevitably do something drastic. Ah, the memories of 1989! In the following years of the Gulf War I and the Balkan wars, it has seemed increasingly the case that the bottom line has dictated that reputable papers no longer send their best reporters, they buy lines off AP and Reuters.
So today, I find this article, which seems to me, a case of "too late to notice, bud." And even then, they miss the point. The simple facts of the matter are, we have worse journalists who are less-educated and more ideologically motivated for left or the right, far more so than their predecessors, who are getting paid less to do work of a far lesser quality. We get what we pay for, because we never really wanted to be informed.
- Art Neuro
Flying High
Here is an update on SpaceShipOne. It seems SpaceShipOne is a serious candidate for the Ansari X Prize purse valued at US$ 10million.
Here is an article about green-ness, but not of the political variety. The point being aliens are not likely to be green. Well, who would know for sure? Personally I'd like to categorise that under unknown unknowns.
High Anxiety
Can the Great Wall of China really be seen from outer space? The ESA clearly thought so without checking, and later retracted statements saying they did. It wasn't the wall, it was a river, they said.
High Fidelity
Seeing that I've just posted up a photo for no good reason, I'd like to point out that the Who have released yet another compilation album, 'Then and Now 1964-2004'. This is the 12th Compilation album they have put out, and their excuse this time is that they have 2 new songs. Think about it. You can buy this at Borders ' for $29.95. That's 15 bucks per new song, if you're a long-standing fan. Rightfully, it's getting a pasting by some of the buyers at Amazon:
- Art Neuro
Here is an update on SpaceShipOne. It seems SpaceShipOne is a serious candidate for the Ansari X Prize purse valued at US$ 10million.
During a portion of SpaceShipOne's boost, the flight director display did not function properly. Pilot Mike Melvill, however, continued the planned trajectory referencing the external horizon through cockpit windows.High Jinx
Melvill used the ship's reaction control system to reorient SpaceShipOne to entry attitude. The vehicle's tail section was flipped up called feather position -- converting SpaceShipOne to a high-drag configuration, permitting stable atmospheric entry.
The ship was de-feathered starting at 55,000 feet. As SpaceShipOne glided toward its runway touchdown, onboard avionics was rebooted. The craft made a smooth and uneventful landing at the Mojave Airport, according to Scaled Composites log data.
Here is an article about green-ness, but not of the political variety. The point being aliens are not likely to be green. Well, who would know for sure? Personally I'd like to categorise that under unknown unknowns.
High Anxiety
Can the Great Wall of China really be seen from outer space? The ESA clearly thought so without checking, and later retracted statements saying they did. It wasn't the wall, it was a river, they said.
"The Great Wall's relative visibility or otherwise from orbit has inspired much recent debate," the agency said in a May 11 press release accompanying a satellite image purporting to show "a winding segment of the 7,240-kilometer-long Great Wall of China situated just northeast of Beijing."It's no big deal if we couldn't really see the Great Wall of China from Orbit, but it's a funny piece of *theory-laden-observation* type of error.
High Fidelity
Seeing that I've just posted up a photo for no good reason, I'd like to point out that the Who have released yet another compilation album, 'Then and Now 1964-2004'. This is the 12th Compilation album they have put out, and their excuse this time is that they have 2 new songs. Think about it. You can buy this at Borders ' for $29.95. That's 15 bucks per new song, if you're a long-standing fan. Rightfully, it's getting a pasting by some of the buyers at Amazon:
Why Get Fooled Again?, April 24, 2004Greatness in decay is decay all the same. Mortality is a sad thing. I'm not moved to spend the bucks this time.
Reviewer: A music fan from san mateo
Another in a long line of 'greatest hits", Then & Now doesn't even come close to being comprehensive. There are too many missing gems (like Relay, Let's See Action, Join Together, Anyway Anyhow Anywhere, etc.) and the inclusion of weak new songs dilute the potency of the songs recorded forty years earlier. And the new songs are the only reason a Who fan would get this collection anyway.
Real Good Looking Boy has the misfortune of directly quoting the famous Elvis Presley song "Can't Help Falling In Love With You". Has Pete Townshend totally run out of ideas? Old Red Wine is a little better but still rather dour and never really gets going despite Roger Daltrey excellent singing.
With only two remaining original Who members one has to ask: At what point do you stop calling these projects The Who? I guess Pete Townshend can get more mileage out of The Who's name brand than his own.
I would have much rather heard an entire recording under the Townshend/Daltrey banner than this waste of plastic.
- Art Neuro
This is a test of the new Photoblogging function. I didn't have a photo handy, so I thought I'd post up an old image of The Who from around 1971.
- Art Neuro
2004/05/20
Roboswarm
The new proposal for the asteroid problem is to send out a swarm of robots to land on the asteroid and to dig things out into space, thus changing the trajectory of the object.
- Art Neuro
The new proposal for the asteroid problem is to send out a swarm of robots to land on the asteroid and to dig things out into space, thus changing the trajectory of the object.
At the heart of the MADMEN concept is a mass driver, which would eject asteroid material as it is drilled out of the rock and sling it out into space using electromagnetic acceleration. The recoil from that ejection would pushes against the robot, and therefore the asteroid, imparting a small amount of force for each shot.The best part is that it's based on Newtonian physics; not a science fiction movie written by a bunch of un-scientific weenies. All they have to do now is design a method of delivery for the robots. We're sure they'll think of something soon. The motto of technological humanity is always, 'Engineering, Perseverance & Fire'.
"It's like throwing rocks from inside a rowboat," Graham said in a telephone interview. "Over time, you end up moving the boat."
- Art Neuro
Support for space?
Putting aside the policy details with which we concern ourselves; where to go, whether to colonise, what's the pay off, it is a sad fact that our input into these matters is generally small. Our 'leaders' will essentially try to gauge general support for "Space" and dish up a package of their own devising to buy those votes. Fair enough I suppose. With that in mind petitions like this one:
http://www.space.com/goformars/
...deserve our attention as we can add our little bit of pressure to say we care. What is supported as a result may well be a dumb political compromise like the shuttle program (as Art already pointed out, lots of Americans still haven't seen through that one yet) but if support is not registered we will end up with nothing.
If you are an American flat-head reading this & don't care then think of a Chinese Moon (boo hiss) or India beating the ol' USofA in space ...& go sign up (hurry). If you, dear reader, are an educated human being who cares more about humanity's future as a species than about the ethnicity of those who get to be the new wave then sign up anyway. Sure it could support something silly but 'W' won't be defining it much longer the way he is going. We could use another space race WAY more than more arms race!
Putting aside the policy details with which we concern ourselves; where to go, whether to colonise, what's the pay off, it is a sad fact that our input into these matters is generally small. Our 'leaders' will essentially try to gauge general support for "Space" and dish up a package of their own devising to buy those votes. Fair enough I suppose. With that in mind petitions like this one:
http://www.space.com/goformars/
...deserve our attention as we can add our little bit of pressure to say we care. What is supported as a result may well be a dumb political compromise like the shuttle program (as Art already pointed out, lots of Americans still haven't seen through that one yet) but if support is not registered we will end up with nothing.
If you are an American flat-head reading this & don't care then think of a Chinese Moon (boo hiss) or India beating the ol' USofA in space ...& go sign up (hurry). If you, dear reader, are an educated human being who cares more about humanity's future as a species than about the ethnicity of those who get to be the new wave then sign up anyway. Sure it could support something silly but 'W' won't be defining it much longer the way he is going. We could use another space race WAY more than more arms race!
2004/05/19
Coming to America
The man who went up and down in the brass kettle is visiting the USA. You'd think it would be a feel-good story, but the US media is rather luke-warm about this event.
Perfect Game
Our favourite mullet-sporting sportsman Randy Johnson threw a perfect game against the Atlanta Braves, becoming the 17th pitcher in the history of Major League baseball to do so. He is also the oldest player at the ripe old age of 40, to achieve this feat. For those of you with a cricketing background, a 'Perfect Game' is pitched when a pitcher surrenders no hits, issues no walks, and concedes no runs, pitching the full 9 innings.
A more dubious explication can be found in the movie 'For Love of The Game' starring Kevin Costner as the Detroit Tigers' ace who pitches a perfect game against the New York Yankees (Yeah, right, snicker).
Whilst the achievement is a rare one, it should come as no surprise that the victims of this lashing were the Braves, who recently surrendered 18 strikeouts to Ben Sheets in this game. For more commentary, check this out. :)
For those of you with a longish memory for these sorts of things, Ben Sheets was the fella who pitched the Americans to a Gold Medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Yep, I saw him pitch; as well as Jose Contreras and Daisuke Matsuzaka.
- Art Neuro
The man who went up and down in the brass kettle is visiting the USA. You'd think it would be a feel-good story, but the US media is rather luke-warm about this event.
Yang will be joined on his tour by a delegation of Chinese space officials, including Mr. Su Shuangning, Deputy Chief of China's Manned Space Engineering Program Office. Speaking with Xinhua News Service, Su said the visit emphasized the importance China places on cooperating with the UN in the peaceful exploration of space.Seems like it's a pretty straight-forward grovel job to the USA.
"I'm willing to contribute more to the undertaking of the peaceful use and exploration of outer space, said Yang in an interview with Xinhua.
Perfect Game
Our favourite mullet-sporting sportsman Randy Johnson threw a perfect game against the Atlanta Braves, becoming the 17th pitcher in the history of Major League baseball to do so. He is also the oldest player at the ripe old age of 40, to achieve this feat. For those of you with a cricketing background, a 'Perfect Game' is pitched when a pitcher surrenders no hits, issues no walks, and concedes no runs, pitching the full 9 innings.
A more dubious explication can be found in the movie 'For Love of The Game' starring Kevin Costner as the Detroit Tigers' ace who pitches a perfect game against the New York Yankees (Yeah, right, snicker).
Whilst the achievement is a rare one, it should come as no surprise that the victims of this lashing were the Braves, who recently surrendered 18 strikeouts to Ben Sheets in this game. For more commentary, check this out. :)
For those of you with a longish memory for these sorts of things, Ben Sheets was the fella who pitched the Americans to a Gold Medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Yep, I saw him pitch; as well as Jose Contreras and Daisuke Matsuzaka.
- Art Neuro
2004/05/18
More from Mars Rover
I'm not sure what to make of this. They are now investigating another rock sample in search of clues to the time when Mars was wet. Boffin stuff, but interesting.
Aum Supreme Truth
During the early 1990s, the Aum Supreme Truth Sect was contacted by Iraqis to sell some Sarin gas. The Iraqis wanted to know it worked. So the sect let some off in a Tokyo subway station in Tsukiji (home of my old company, Dentsu). The result was the 1995 Sarin gas attack. Obviously it was a good sales ploy, as sarin has surfaced in Iraq. Was the buyer satisfied? We'll never know. For whatever it's worth, I have always had strong belief in the case of the Iraqis possessing what is known today as Weapons of Mass Destruction (like a 500lb bomb isn't).
They had mustard gas and used it against Iran in the 8 year war in the 1980s. Time magazine had published the corpses of the Iranians who died in the marshlands for heaven's sake, but we've all forgotten that. Collin Powell could have taken old issues of Time magazine into the UN and said, "Look, they used mustard gas! Ask the Iranians!" The sarin gas discovered only fills out another part of the puzzle. While I can't really say much about the motives or methods of the allied forces in Iraq (who can, after 'Sex-Torture-gate'?), I have always been convinced UNSCOM was foiled, and that the Iraqis had ample time to hide these things.
- Art Neuro
I'm not sure what to make of this. They are now investigating another rock sample in search of clues to the time when Mars was wet. Boffin stuff, but interesting.
Aum Supreme Truth
During the early 1990s, the Aum Supreme Truth Sect was contacted by Iraqis to sell some Sarin gas. The Iraqis wanted to know it worked. So the sect let some off in a Tokyo subway station in Tsukiji (home of my old company, Dentsu). The result was the 1995 Sarin gas attack. Obviously it was a good sales ploy, as sarin has surfaced in Iraq. Was the buyer satisfied? We'll never know. For whatever it's worth, I have always had strong belief in the case of the Iraqis possessing what is known today as Weapons of Mass Destruction (like a 500lb bomb isn't).
They had mustard gas and used it against Iran in the 8 year war in the 1980s. Time magazine had published the corpses of the Iranians who died in the marshlands for heaven's sake, but we've all forgotten that. Collin Powell could have taken old issues of Time magazine into the UN and said, "Look, they used mustard gas! Ask the Iranians!" The sarin gas discovered only fills out another part of the puzzle. While I can't really say much about the motives or methods of the allied forces in Iraq (who can, after 'Sex-Torture-gate'?), I have always been convinced UNSCOM was foiled, and that the Iraqis had ample time to hide these things.
- Art Neuro
Jews in Space
Wasn't it Mel Brooks who came up with that gag? Now we find that an historic torah was lost in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Now they are making a TV documentary about it.
Freedom of Speech does not include making light of the screams of the beheaded
Okay. This is in bad taste. No doubt about it. However on the other hand, it's a free world, and those DJs are allowed to say whatever they like... And the station is allowed to hire whoever they like. Hmmm. This freedom of speech thing is really difficult.
BY THE WAY, CHECK OUT THE NEW COMMENTS BUTTON
These can be found next to the time stamps and seem to be better than the 3rd party ones we've been using. I'm going to transfer our old stuff onto these in the coming days and eliminate the old ones eventually.
- Art Neuro
Wasn't it Mel Brooks who came up with that gag? Now we find that an historic torah was lost in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Now they are making a TV documentary about it.
Freedom of Speech does not include making light of the screams of the beheaded
Okay. This is in bad taste. No doubt about it. However on the other hand, it's a free world, and those DJs are allowed to say whatever they like... And the station is allowed to hire whoever they like. Hmmm. This freedom of speech thing is really difficult.
Marconi apologized on Friday in an audio recording posted on his personal web site, saying he had made himself sick with his "stupid" actions.So much for high principles and whatnot. I would still like to reserve a space in the public that allows for the tasteless 'Marconi' characters of this world to make tasteless jokes about idiots who get beheaded on behalf of all of us who live under Pax Americana.
"I say a lot of stupid things on the radio, but this was the most inappropriate thing that I've ever done and I am very ashamed of myself for doing it," the DJ said.
Marconi and his partner Tiny were known for crude jokes and had been reprimanded before, but the station deemed their "edgy" humor necessary to reach young adult listeners.
BY THE WAY, CHECK OUT THE NEW COMMENTS BUTTON
These can be found next to the time stamps and seem to be better than the 3rd party ones we've been using. I'm going to transfer our old stuff onto these in the coming days and eliminate the old ones eventually.
- Art Neuro
2004/05/17
Need a dumb answer? Ask a dumb person...
More surveys on the public attitude towards space funding can be found in this article. The good news is that most people want to see the funding continue to NASA. The not so good news is that most people support the continuation of the Space Shuttle program. That's kind of borderline; if they knew what they were buying, they might object. The outright bad news is that approximately 10% of the people surveyed don't believe in global warming, and don't think it will affect them in their lifetime. This is hilarious.
- Art Neuro
More surveys on the public attitude towards space funding can be found in this article. The good news is that most people want to see the funding continue to NASA. The not so good news is that most people support the continuation of the Space Shuttle program. That's kind of borderline; if they knew what they were buying, they might object. The outright bad news is that approximately 10% of the people surveyed don't believe in global warming, and don't think it will affect them in their lifetime. This is hilarious.
- Art Neuro
Troy, the Movie
Don't read on if you haven't read 'the Iliad'.
It must be sign of the times when 'Lord of the Rings' makes it to the big screen in three gigantic installations, that the hoariest of the old war stories, 'The Iliad' clambers on to the stage. It is possible that every generation should get a shot at the classics, and this is the time when uncertainty doesn't pay. The top grossing films of all time now include 'Titanic'; Mel Gibson's 'The Passion', 'Lord of the Rings' 1,2 &3; and now this entry, 'Troy'. What can we say? People like watching films where they know how it ends? The ship hits the iceberg and sinks, they nail the sad guy with the beard to the cross, the Hobbits destroy the evil ring, and they sack the mighty city of Troy.
In fact, the resemblance to Lord of the Rings is pretty remarkable. Orlando Bloom plays a rather prissy Paris, who through the LOTR prism might be misconstrued as a fey, over-amorous elf. Sean Bean plays Odysseus, which seems appropriate, seeing that Boromir had good ideas too; Tolkien just didn't agree with them so he killed off Boromir in a hurry. Then there are the hirsute Atreus brothers Agamemnon and Menelaus, who come over like a pair of greedy dwarves. Even the battle action is reminiscent of the action in LOTR, which I guess is not such a bad thing.
The thing that gets me, is that combined with a very buff Brad Pitt and formerly hulking Eric Bana, it adds up to a rather un-memorable rendition of the Iliad. Perhaps the problem is that since childhood we have imagined a better siege of Troy. The walls look good, the costumes look great, the boats look menacing, the fight scenes are pretty good, but it all adds up to less than what you would expect of a dirty big-budget movie about the fall of Troy.
What's wrong with this?
In 'The Art of Fiction', John Gardner writes what amounts to a nice treatment of a short story based on Helen. If I recall correctly, what Gardner works towards is a psychological portrait of Helen, and the surprise she feels when she sees the vast Greek armada from her window in Troy one morning. Gardner argues the merit of the choice of character, place, time, to get to this moment in the story. That being said, I waited with baited breath for Wolfgang Petersen's treatment of this moment. First, he telegraphed it by having Helen expect it. Then, when the Greeks do arrive, there is a shot of her passive, almost irritated look. You know folks? It's just plain wrong. One wishes that Petersen was shown that passage by Gardner and he might not have made something so mundane out of that moment. It's one thing to look out and see ships from Sparta to come and retrieve her; the entire Greek armada? Where's her surprise?
The slaying of Hector is pretty mundane too. Brad Pitt grabs some leather and ties the corpse, does half a turn on his chariot and goes home. Where are the seven and half turns around the castle walls? Priam should watch in even deeper horror as his son's body is treated so badly. Well, they have none of that in this movie, and I think therein lies its problem. Also, the scene between Priam and Achilles is a weird one too. It is the most important scene in the Iliad, where Priam begs Achilles to return the body of Hector. While Peter O'Toole and Brad Pitt put in fine performances, there is not enough of the grimness that you expect in that scene where Achilles must consider his own end.
Oh yes. Menelaus and Agamemnon both die in this flick.
Agamemnon in particular gets a sad treatment in this film. (Electra? Where are you now?) He's essentially a nasty little megalomaniac despot who has conquered the city-states of Greece in his bid for an Empire. There is nothing grand or profound about this character; just your typical movie-bad-guy offering obstacles to the hero Achilles. All the Greeks come across as being petty in this film. Even Odysseus comes across as a small man in this film, and I wonder if this is what Petersen wanted.
Never look a gift horse in the mouth
I, so longed long to hear that line, when the Trojans find the wooden horse statue on the beach after the Greeks have pulled out. Unfortunately, there wasn't somebody witty enough in the script team to slip that one through.
Why Troy? Why now?
The most classic story about war and the horrors therein is brought to the screen with a prosaic quality that is more in line with a Merhcant Ivory production than what we would call cinema epic. It's interesting to meditate on the significance of Troy. Troy is the first moment in history where the West triumphs over the East, and delivers a migthy blow. Troy presages Marathon, the Greek struggle against Persia, Alexander's campaigns, the Roman conquest of the Middle East, and even the Crusades. I guess the victory that the East get to gloat over would be the fall of Constantinople. As such, the text carries much significance in being taken to the big screen in our times. When you watch 'Troy' you cannot help but think about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
A-chilles? I was thinking A-Rod
I know it's sad, but it's true. The way Achilles comes across in this film is a bit like the way Alex Rodriguez comes across as a New York Yankee. You know, they're already pretty damn good; why do they need the eminently best slayer/player of his generation as well?
- Art Neuro
Don't read on if you haven't read 'the Iliad'.
It must be sign of the times when 'Lord of the Rings' makes it to the big screen in three gigantic installations, that the hoariest of the old war stories, 'The Iliad' clambers on to the stage. It is possible that every generation should get a shot at the classics, and this is the time when uncertainty doesn't pay. The top grossing films of all time now include 'Titanic'; Mel Gibson's 'The Passion', 'Lord of the Rings' 1,2 &3; and now this entry, 'Troy'. What can we say? People like watching films where they know how it ends? The ship hits the iceberg and sinks, they nail the sad guy with the beard to the cross, the Hobbits destroy the evil ring, and they sack the mighty city of Troy.
In fact, the resemblance to Lord of the Rings is pretty remarkable. Orlando Bloom plays a rather prissy Paris, who through the LOTR prism might be misconstrued as a fey, over-amorous elf. Sean Bean plays Odysseus, which seems appropriate, seeing that Boromir had good ideas too; Tolkien just didn't agree with them so he killed off Boromir in a hurry. Then there are the hirsute Atreus brothers Agamemnon and Menelaus, who come over like a pair of greedy dwarves. Even the battle action is reminiscent of the action in LOTR, which I guess is not such a bad thing.
The thing that gets me, is that combined with a very buff Brad Pitt and formerly hulking Eric Bana, it adds up to a rather un-memorable rendition of the Iliad. Perhaps the problem is that since childhood we have imagined a better siege of Troy. The walls look good, the costumes look great, the boats look menacing, the fight scenes are pretty good, but it all adds up to less than what you would expect of a dirty big-budget movie about the fall of Troy.
What's wrong with this?
In 'The Art of Fiction', John Gardner writes what amounts to a nice treatment of a short story based on Helen. If I recall correctly, what Gardner works towards is a psychological portrait of Helen, and the surprise she feels when she sees the vast Greek armada from her window in Troy one morning. Gardner argues the merit of the choice of character, place, time, to get to this moment in the story. That being said, I waited with baited breath for Wolfgang Petersen's treatment of this moment. First, he telegraphed it by having Helen expect it. Then, when the Greeks do arrive, there is a shot of her passive, almost irritated look. You know folks? It's just plain wrong. One wishes that Petersen was shown that passage by Gardner and he might not have made something so mundane out of that moment. It's one thing to look out and see ships from Sparta to come and retrieve her; the entire Greek armada? Where's her surprise?
The slaying of Hector is pretty mundane too. Brad Pitt grabs some leather and ties the corpse, does half a turn on his chariot and goes home. Where are the seven and half turns around the castle walls? Priam should watch in even deeper horror as his son's body is treated so badly. Well, they have none of that in this movie, and I think therein lies its problem. Also, the scene between Priam and Achilles is a weird one too. It is the most important scene in the Iliad, where Priam begs Achilles to return the body of Hector. While Peter O'Toole and Brad Pitt put in fine performances, there is not enough of the grimness that you expect in that scene where Achilles must consider his own end.
Oh yes. Menelaus and Agamemnon both die in this flick.
Agamemnon in particular gets a sad treatment in this film. (Electra? Where are you now?) He's essentially a nasty little megalomaniac despot who has conquered the city-states of Greece in his bid for an Empire. There is nothing grand or profound about this character; just your typical movie-bad-guy offering obstacles to the hero Achilles. All the Greeks come across as being petty in this film. Even Odysseus comes across as a small man in this film, and I wonder if this is what Petersen wanted.
Never look a gift horse in the mouth
I, so longed long to hear that line, when the Trojans find the wooden horse statue on the beach after the Greeks have pulled out. Unfortunately, there wasn't somebody witty enough in the script team to slip that one through.
Why Troy? Why now?
The most classic story about war and the horrors therein is brought to the screen with a prosaic quality that is more in line with a Merhcant Ivory production than what we would call cinema epic. It's interesting to meditate on the significance of Troy. Troy is the first moment in history where the West triumphs over the East, and delivers a migthy blow. Troy presages Marathon, the Greek struggle against Persia, Alexander's campaigns, the Roman conquest of the Middle East, and even the Crusades. I guess the victory that the East get to gloat over would be the fall of Constantinople. As such, the text carries much significance in being taken to the big screen in our times. When you watch 'Troy' you cannot help but think about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
A-chilles? I was thinking A-Rod
I know it's sad, but it's true. The way Achilles comes across in this film is a bit like the way Alex Rodriguez comes across as a New York Yankee. You know, they're already pretty damn good; why do they need the eminently best slayer/player of his generation as well?
- Art Neuro
2004/05/14
Private Rocket
Here's an interesting article about the first private rocket concern. The imaginatively named SpaceShipOne made its third flight.
-Art Neuro
Here's an interesting article about the first private rocket concern. The imaginatively named SpaceShipOne made its third flight.
Scaled Composites of Mojave is the builder of SpaceShipOne, an effort led by aviation innovator, Burt Rutan. The financial backer of the project is Microsoft mogul, Paul Allen.What is of some interest is that Microsoft people are involved with funding this project. So perhaps the evil Empire is hoping to go to space and sell more operating systems? Anyway, jokes aside, it can't be all bad that they are involved, given their financial power; you could almost argue it's for the good of humanity, given the US government's reluctance to come at Space as an imperative.
In a post-flight statement from the company, the SpaceShipOne team reported that their space plane flew to 212,000 feet altitude, almost 41 miles. NASA awards astronaut status to anyone who flies above 50 miles in altitude.
"This flight marks an additional milestone for Paul G. Allen, Burt Rutan and the innovative aerospace design team in their ongoing efforts to complete the first non-government manned space flight. The test is part of Scaled Composites' Tier One program, funded by Allen, Microsoft co-founder and CEO of Vulcan Inc.," according to the statement.
-Art Neuro
2004/05/13
More to do with Max
A few weeks back, we had a minor side-discussion about this, but it's turned out to have some 'legs'. Another friend of mine who has seen the film sent in this link about the film 'Max' starring John Cusack and Noah Taylor as the young Adolf Hitler.
Here's a little bit that got me nodding in agreement:
-Art Neuro
A few weeks back, we had a minor side-discussion about this, but it's turned out to have some 'legs'. Another friend of mine who has seen the film sent in this link about the film 'Max' starring John Cusack and Noah Taylor as the young Adolf Hitler.
Here's a little bit that got me nodding in agreement:
Cusack: I actually called Maureen Dowd after she took a swipe at the movie and I asked her how she could do that without even seeing it. And she said, "Oh, I like your work" -- she was very complimentary and so on. But I thought it was a tad lazy on her part to go after a movie she'd never seen. Her attitude was that even a serious, adult examination of this subject had to be exploitative, simply because of the subject matter.Pretty interesting read over all.
Even talking to my father, who's a writer and a very smart, progressive, open-minded guy, he told me, "I don't know, it disturbs me -- I don't want to think of Hitler as a human." Because what the film asks of you is very painful. It's not a truth you want to face.
To those who say, "How dare you give Hitler a set of human characteristics?" -- I say, "How dare we not?" It's easy to portray him as a monster, it's harder and more disturbing to show his humanity and how it became poisoned.
-Art Neuro
Hi, I'm back
I've been away from writing this blog for about a week with a couple of interludes inbetween. Thanks for your patience in keeping on coming back. Also, thanks to James for putting up an argument-club-worthy post while I was away. The knee still hurts when I try to straighten it out, but I'm able to put more and more weight on it with each passing day, so I'm headed back to normal health there.
Some stuff about the 'Key Psycho' Shoot
We spent 5 days holed up in the Windsor Motel, shooting 50pages of drama in the 5 scheduled days. This is gruelling by most counts. Hollywood features shoot 2.5-3.5 pages a day. TV dramas like the ones from the US aim for 5 pages a day. Sit coms, with multicamera shoots can go to 7-10pages a day, but they are restricted by having very few established sets. Doing 10 minutes a day of single camera shooting, day-after-day is the domain of 'Home and Away' or 'Neighbours', and we all know what those look like. So I have to say I'm really proud of the crew, which consisted mostly of cinematographer and uber-camera-dude Peter Beeh; Producers Brenden Dannaher and April Born; Sam, Terry sand Sandy, the soundies sent from Konrad Skirlis. Thanks to the efforts of the crew, and the amazing location, it's certainly going to have the look of 'Key Largo' meets 'Psycho'.
Having said that, there's still about 5 pages to be shot, so we're not totally out of the woods yet, but that will take place in about a month when some of the actors become available again.
About the Cast
Darren Schnase, who played Othello in my little production of scenes from the play in 2002 played escaped gangster boss JOHNNY ROCCO.
Warwick Poulsen played Johnny's sidekick, CURTLY PRIMROSE.
Bernadette Marr played LAYLA CRANE, who goes in search of the missing MARION CRANE, who was played by Kendal Jones.
Jai Koutrae played SAM LOOMIS, Jim McCrudden who played Iago in the 'Othello' played the Norman-Bates-parody, MAXWELL.
Mark Jensen played DETECTIVE HITCHCOCK.
I think it's the strongest cast I've ever worked with for anything. It was certainly the most focused, centered group of actors on a shoot, and the energy was simply astounding.
A thought about Directing
There are plenty of misconceptions about what directors do. I think it comes from years of mythologising the director as some sort of god-like authority on how the picture should get made. It's also a funny business because everybody can do it on an every day level, and they are doing it without noticing it. Even the Iraqi guys who behead people and video it are directing. They are terrible directors, but perhaps this is because they have other talents with which they are more preoccupied. But when they say to the Japanese hostages, "Could you look REALLY afraid when I brandish my knife? I mean REALLY, REALLY Wet-your-pants AFRAID?", that's directing.
[Of course, it has to be said, a bad actor then asks, "Why? What's my motivation?"]
One thing I have discovered is that the difference between an Amateur and a Professional is as follows:
An Amateur is always happy to tell you how you should be doing your job.
A Professional has the kind courtesy of not doing what an Amateur does, but instead bitches about you behind your back.
Everybody is a critic. There's always a different way to skin a cat; place a camera; follow an action; direct the line; inform the motivation on an actor; set up the scene; do the pacing; set the intensity; get the feel; deal with the vibe; but the final arbiter of these decisions lies with the director for the reason that somebody has to keep the vision intact, and it's best if it was one person who keeps in mind how the whole damn thing has to come together. And really, if people don't like it, they should try writing their own damn script, assemble their own cast & crew and try doing this stuff. It's a free-market world.
Unfortunately for me, directing is some of the best stuff I do, and there seems to be an oversupply of directors in the market.
A round of Thanks
Cast and Crew get my comprehensive and profound gratitude for their effort. As they say, it wouldn't have been what it was without them. Also, thanks to Quentin Bell and Dave Brew who supplied some props, without which it couldn't have been made to look the way it did at all. The other thing I have to say is that I'd like to thank all my good friends who through the years didn't bat an eye-lid when I said I was going to direct this chimera of a script. Most of you were very enthusiastic in your support, and mostly open to the idea of the script. Also, I don't think I could have dispensed with late night conversations with Chris McMahon and David Musgrave about the nature of insanity or the on-going dialogue I have with everybody about just about everything 'crazy'/'insane'/'weird'/Freudian slips'.
- Art Neuro
I've been away from writing this blog for about a week with a couple of interludes inbetween. Thanks for your patience in keeping on coming back. Also, thanks to James for putting up an argument-club-worthy post while I was away. The knee still hurts when I try to straighten it out, but I'm able to put more and more weight on it with each passing day, so I'm headed back to normal health there.
Some stuff about the 'Key Psycho' Shoot
We spent 5 days holed up in the Windsor Motel, shooting 50pages of drama in the 5 scheduled days. This is gruelling by most counts. Hollywood features shoot 2.5-3.5 pages a day. TV dramas like the ones from the US aim for 5 pages a day. Sit coms, with multicamera shoots can go to 7-10pages a day, but they are restricted by having very few established sets. Doing 10 minutes a day of single camera shooting, day-after-day is the domain of 'Home and Away' or 'Neighbours', and we all know what those look like. So I have to say I'm really proud of the crew, which consisted mostly of cinematographer and uber-camera-dude Peter Beeh; Producers Brenden Dannaher and April Born; Sam, Terry sand Sandy, the soundies sent from Konrad Skirlis. Thanks to the efforts of the crew, and the amazing location, it's certainly going to have the look of 'Key Largo' meets 'Psycho'.
Having said that, there's still about 5 pages to be shot, so we're not totally out of the woods yet, but that will take place in about a month when some of the actors become available again.
About the Cast
Darren Schnase, who played Othello in my little production of scenes from the play in 2002 played escaped gangster boss JOHNNY ROCCO.
Warwick Poulsen played Johnny's sidekick, CURTLY PRIMROSE.
Bernadette Marr played LAYLA CRANE, who goes in search of the missing MARION CRANE, who was played by Kendal Jones.
Jai Koutrae played SAM LOOMIS, Jim McCrudden who played Iago in the 'Othello' played the Norman-Bates-parody, MAXWELL.
Mark Jensen played DETECTIVE HITCHCOCK.
I think it's the strongest cast I've ever worked with for anything. It was certainly the most focused, centered group of actors on a shoot, and the energy was simply astounding.
A thought about Directing
There are plenty of misconceptions about what directors do. I think it comes from years of mythologising the director as some sort of god-like authority on how the picture should get made. It's also a funny business because everybody can do it on an every day level, and they are doing it without noticing it. Even the Iraqi guys who behead people and video it are directing. They are terrible directors, but perhaps this is because they have other talents with which they are more preoccupied. But when they say to the Japanese hostages, "Could you look REALLY afraid when I brandish my knife? I mean REALLY, REALLY Wet-your-pants AFRAID?", that's directing.
[Of course, it has to be said, a bad actor then asks, "Why? What's my motivation?"]
One thing I have discovered is that the difference between an Amateur and a Professional is as follows:
An Amateur is always happy to tell you how you should be doing your job.
A Professional has the kind courtesy of not doing what an Amateur does, but instead bitches about you behind your back.
Everybody is a critic. There's always a different way to skin a cat; place a camera; follow an action; direct the line; inform the motivation on an actor; set up the scene; do the pacing; set the intensity; get the feel; deal with the vibe; but the final arbiter of these decisions lies with the director for the reason that somebody has to keep the vision intact, and it's best if it was one person who keeps in mind how the whole damn thing has to come together. And really, if people don't like it, they should try writing their own damn script, assemble their own cast & crew and try doing this stuff. It's a free-market world.
Unfortunately for me, directing is some of the best stuff I do, and there seems to be an oversupply of directors in the market.
A round of Thanks
Cast and Crew get my comprehensive and profound gratitude for their effort. As they say, it wouldn't have been what it was without them. Also, thanks to Quentin Bell and Dave Brew who supplied some props, without which it couldn't have been made to look the way it did at all. The other thing I have to say is that I'd like to thank all my good friends who through the years didn't bat an eye-lid when I said I was going to direct this chimera of a script. Most of you were very enthusiastic in your support, and mostly open to the idea of the script. Also, I don't think I could have dispensed with late night conversations with Chris McMahon and David Musgrave about the nature of insanity or the on-going dialogue I have with everybody about just about everything 'crazy'/'insane'/'weird'/Freudian slips'.
- Art Neuro
2004/05/12
People who fly past Mexicans in the night
...Are not humans according to the Mexican Airforce. Okay, it's one thing to be writing about SETI, and another to report UFO sightings of all things, but I figured it looked interesting so here it is. Dave, shoot me at your own leisure. The bit that got me laughing was this naive observation:
Ahem. With reasoning like this, who could resist? (James, ready your munitions!) Perhaps there is a good reason as to why we are not suffering under 'Pax Mexicana'
- Art Neuro
...Are not humans according to the Mexican Airforce. Okay, it's one thing to be writing about SETI, and another to report UFO sightings of all things, but I figured it looked interesting so here it is. Dave, shoot me at your own leisure. The bit that got me laughing was this naive observation:
"This is historic news," Maussan told reporters. "Hundreds of videos (of UFOs) exist, but none had the backing of the armed forces of any country. ... The armed forces don't perpetuate frauds."
Ahem. With reasoning like this, who could resist? (James, ready your munitions!) Perhaps there is a good reason as to why we are not suffering under 'Pax Mexicana'
- Art Neuro
2004/05/09
While I've been gone...
Thanks to loyal reader Mr. Conservative Weasel, we have this interesting article to ponder.
In particular I'd like to point out this segment:
Right now, I'm bog tired, with one more day of principal photography to go.
- Art Neuro
Thanks to loyal reader Mr. Conservative Weasel, we have this interesting article to ponder.
In particular I'd like to point out this segment:
Fiorina said the most fundamental reason for sending robots and astronauts into the universe is, "If we don't do it, someone will." She cited China's burgeoning space program, as well as that of Russia and India. The president's initiative also will help preserve America's technological leadership, currently threatened by the exodus of high-tech manufacturing jobs overseas, she said.Now our position is that she has conceived it entirely wrong-headedly. "If we don't go, then we as a species are all doomed to die on this planet" should be the way it gets couched.
"We have to really help people make that connection," she said.
Right now, I'm bog tired, with one more day of principal photography to go.
- Art Neuro
2004/05/05
War is Policy Continued by Other Means
The siege of Fallujah has been lifted without the completion of any of the objectives that were set for the operation of the outset. All the articles I have read have been vague about exactly what is going on there, but it looks like the militia still run the town. Certainly, those responsible for the infamous killing and mutilation of the four mercenaries have not been brought to justice. I think it looks a lot like a defeat.
It seems that the US has reached the limit of it's ability to achieve it's aims in Iraq through violence. It's going to be interesting to see what they do next. They might try again with more troops, if they can get more troops. They will continue trying to raise a proxy army and government, but each blunder they have made has weakened the Iraqi Governing Council. They may decide just to continue with the war of attrition until the oil runs out in 10-20 years time, who knows.
I'm sure that an Iraqi version of the Phoenix Program (a large scale policy of assassination adopted in the later years of Vietnam) is well under way, but the resistance is way ahead of them in the intelligence war and unless they can turn that around, covert ops aren't going to work. The attempt to improve intelligence gathering through torture has been the most counter productive action that has been taken so far, and "those" photos could potentially form part of the groundwork for an ultimate defeat. We shall see.
I think the main problem with the US' tactics is that they have learned from the Israelis. The Israeli use of military force against the Palestinians has been one of the most unsuccessful counter insurgency campaigns in history. I notice the US army seems to have stopped it's policy of demolishing houses, maybe that's because they've learned from their mistakes. Of course, the most likely explanation is that the demolitions are no longer being reported.
I read that 10% of the Iraqi unit that was sent to Fallujah actually changed sides. I've also noticed that the Mehdi militia (loyal to As Sadr) is displaying a level of sophistication that was not present in the pre-2003 Iraqi army. I think that the training that the US has given to the new Iraqi army has percolated down to the resistance. If the resistance can get hold of some modern anti tank and anti aircraft weapons, they could militarily defeat the US army.
I think this is the worst-managed military campaign in American history, and you've got to wonder what went on behind the scenes to make it happen. Wars waged on false pretences are an American tradition, but they usually choose victims they can beat (Vietnam being the obvious exception). Were they smoking crack? Is an ignominious defeat actually part of some greater plan? And will we ever know?
James
The siege of Fallujah has been lifted without the completion of any of the objectives that were set for the operation of the outset. All the articles I have read have been vague about exactly what is going on there, but it looks like the militia still run the town. Certainly, those responsible for the infamous killing and mutilation of the four mercenaries have not been brought to justice. I think it looks a lot like a defeat.
It seems that the US has reached the limit of it's ability to achieve it's aims in Iraq through violence. It's going to be interesting to see what they do next. They might try again with more troops, if they can get more troops. They will continue trying to raise a proxy army and government, but each blunder they have made has weakened the Iraqi Governing Council. They may decide just to continue with the war of attrition until the oil runs out in 10-20 years time, who knows.
I'm sure that an Iraqi version of the Phoenix Program (a large scale policy of assassination adopted in the later years of Vietnam) is well under way, but the resistance is way ahead of them in the intelligence war and unless they can turn that around, covert ops aren't going to work. The attempt to improve intelligence gathering through torture has been the most counter productive action that has been taken so far, and "those" photos could potentially form part of the groundwork for an ultimate defeat. We shall see.
I think the main problem with the US' tactics is that they have learned from the Israelis. The Israeli use of military force against the Palestinians has been one of the most unsuccessful counter insurgency campaigns in history. I notice the US army seems to have stopped it's policy of demolishing houses, maybe that's because they've learned from their mistakes. Of course, the most likely explanation is that the demolitions are no longer being reported.
I read that 10% of the Iraqi unit that was sent to Fallujah actually changed sides. I've also noticed that the Mehdi militia (loyal to As Sadr) is displaying a level of sophistication that was not present in the pre-2003 Iraqi army. I think that the training that the US has given to the new Iraqi army has percolated down to the resistance. If the resistance can get hold of some modern anti tank and anti aircraft weapons, they could militarily defeat the US army.
I think this is the worst-managed military campaign in American history, and you've got to wonder what went on behind the scenes to make it happen. Wars waged on false pretences are an American tradition, but they usually choose victims they can beat (Vietnam being the obvious exception). Were they smoking crack? Is an ignominious defeat actually part of some greater plan? And will we ever know?
James
2004/05/03
On the comeback trail
Much like my knee which has significantly fewer moving parts, the Shuttle Programme is on the comeback trail.
On the Mend
My knee's a little better today. I can sit up and it can take the slight mass on it. Still hop around on one leg, but I don't scream when I swing the knee to change directions. Also getting more extension.
On the Road
In a few days I'll be off directing 'Key Psycho', my first feature film; well, it'll be around 50 minutes and shot on miniDV, but it will be widescreen and Black and White. It's a combined fusionof the classics 'Psycho' and 'Key Largo', hence the title. Some people have read the script and said it reminded them of 'Identity', but apart from the fact that it takes place in a motel, there isn't much else they have in common. Why am I doing this now? Damned if I knew, except Damned if you do and Damned if you don't, so it's Do Time.
Anyway, the important thing is that I may miss a few days here, so please understand; I'm busy doing my real thing.
- Art Neuro
Much like my knee which has significantly fewer moving parts, the Shuttle Programme is on the comeback trail.
NASA's just issued plan points out that "considerable progress" has been made in the past months in the agency's return to flight efforts and to make the Shuttle safer.Sort of sounds like a fluff piece PR exercise, but we'll take it for now. I mean, we won't know it's a crock until; the next Shuttle takes another 7 astronauts to a rarefied grave up there.
"We're feeling very good about being back in the flying mode next spring," Wayne Hale, Space Shuttle Program Deputy Manager said in a press briefing today in discussing the return to flight status of the space plane.
The implementation report stresses that extensive work is ongoing to eliminate critical ascent debris -- the root cause that led to the Columbia accident.Now this is the devil in the detail as to how exactly they pin this tail on the moving donkey. As William Hurt's character mumbles in 'Broadcast News', "You know, it's so hard when they keep on moving the damn goal posts"
NASA is redesigning the external tank bipod assembly to eliminate the large foam ramp and replace it with electric heaters to prevent ice formation. Furthermore, other potential sources of critical ascent debris are being identified and eliminated, the report says.
NASA is already pursuing a comprehensive testing program to understand the root causes of foam shedding and develop alternative design solutions to reduce the debris loss potential. Lastly, the space agency is slated to conduct tests and analyses to ensure that the shuttle can withstand potential strikes from "noncritical" ascent debris.
On the Mend
My knee's a little better today. I can sit up and it can take the slight mass on it. Still hop around on one leg, but I don't scream when I swing the knee to change directions. Also getting more extension.
On the Road
In a few days I'll be off directing 'Key Psycho', my first feature film; well, it'll be around 50 minutes and shot on miniDV, but it will be widescreen and Black and White. It's a combined fusionof the classics 'Psycho' and 'Key Largo', hence the title. Some people have read the script and said it reminded them of 'Identity', but apart from the fact that it takes place in a motel, there isn't much else they have in common. Why am I doing this now? Damned if I knew, except Damned if you do and Damned if you don't, so it's Do Time.
Anyway, the important thing is that I may miss a few days here, so please understand; I'm busy doing my real thing.
- Art Neuro
2004/05/02
'Moneyball' arrives in Australia
The Age has done a review on the book. It took long enough, and it has to be said that apart from the non-understanding of baseball stats, it even misunderstood the people portrayed:
Apart from that, it's probably a good thing 'Moneyball' is getting an airing in Australia.
Tore up my Knee
playing baseball yesterday. I went for 2 walks and a double, scoring 2 runs and after that I tore up my knee in a collision play at 3B so my batting order registered an out. My season OBP is .500, so Beane and DePodesta would've been proud. Apart from that, I'm crawling around the floor, dragging my butt along the carpet. It's a miserable experience.
- Art Neuro
The Age has done a review on the book. It took long enough, and it has to be said that apart from the non-understanding of baseball stats, it even misunderstood the people portrayed:
Beane and DePodesta and the society made several important discoveries about baseball success. First, hitting power was a vastly overrated (sic); more important was the ability to "get on base", which could be achieved by inducing the pitcher to throw poorly and get a walk to first base.No, power is important. As is contact. But Batting Average as a stat was over-rated. This 'discovery' was made by Branch Rickey in a long-gone era, but was committed to writing by baseball writer Bill James in the early 1980s. In fact, it's a central tenet of 'sabermetrics' and has been for a good 15-20 years. It was the fact that the Oakland Athletics in the time of Sandy Alderson were the first to take it up as policy in developing their minor league talent that made it 'revolutionary' in some ways because he did on a cue from Bill James' writings. What is radical about Beane and DePodesta's approach that they found a market inefficiency in the fact that On-Base-Percentage was overlooked by almost all the rival clubs and so gained an advantage in getting cheap players who were long on plate discipline. Apart from that Beane concluded that plate discipline was not a skill that could not be taught, but a talent and so went after established players with a high OBP at various levels of development.
Second, the existing statistic measuring pitchers' performances was muddied because it included the full play. Good or bad fielding could alter the result of a play and influence a pitcher's stats, so Beane and Depodesto stripped them out.This is crap. It was legal clerk Voros McCracken who devised DIPS (Defense Independent Pitching Statistics), and promptly got a job with the Boston Red Sox at the beginning of the 2003 season. Yes, he made his announcement at SABR (Society for American Baseball Research), but Beane and DePodesta had nothing to do with this discovery. Makes you wonder if Matthew Ricketson actually understood what he has read.
Third, recruiting scouts focused too much on a player's potential, and placed too much faith in the major league club's ability to eradicate flaws or improve weaknesses. Beane and Depodesto (sic) put more store in what prospective recruits had actually done.Again, it was Bill James who showed that you could project players future performances by their track record, adjusting for the league. James did this work in the early 80s and was promptly ignored by all baseball organisations. In the case of Beane and DePodesta, they decided to adopt this approach in order to be 'risk-averse'.
Apart from that, it's probably a good thing 'Moneyball' is getting an airing in Australia.
Tore up my Knee
playing baseball yesterday. I went for 2 walks and a double, scoring 2 runs and after that I tore up my knee in a collision play at 3B so my batting order registered an out. My season OBP is .500, so Beane and DePodesta would've been proud. Apart from that, I'm crawling around the floor, dragging my butt along the carpet. It's a miserable experience.
- Art Neuro
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