Random Ramblings

1. Hospice medical care for dying patients -- a very nice article from The New Yorker, in which an oncologist follows around a hospice nurse for a few days and deals with both his own conflicting feelings and the difficulty the North American medical system has in dealing with terminally ill patients.

2. Pocketful of dough - tips on tipping -- the challenge was simple: arrive at some of New York's most exclusive restaurants with no reservation, only a few large-denomination bills, and try to get a table. Interesting results.

3. Offended by rank objectification of writers -- I'm not a professional writer, but I resemble these remarks anyway. Very funny.

4. Chemistry PhD thesis explained via dance (4-minute video) -- okay, I admit I'm still not entirely sure what the thesis is about, but it's a really cool dance routine!

5. There's a high likelihood that your job postings suck -- having recently some intensive job-hunting (at least in theory), I really wish more companies would read this post and do what it says. I really, really wish that all job postings looked like this, but I'm not holding my breath.

6. If movie characters didn't make horrible decisions -- this article from Cracked is hilarious. Really, while I wouldn't go see any of these movies, the premises are great!

7. How it should have ended (2-3 minute videos) -- I stumbled across this amazing site recently. It's got short videos of how popular movies *should* have ended. Great stuff. And a huge time suck.

To anyone thinking of seeing Avatar: The Last Airbender... Don't. Really, don't. Save your time and your money. Let your mind be pristine with the thoughts of the series dancing happily in your head. Don't let it be sullied with this movie. Just don't.

So there I was, taking a little afternoon doze. Not really sleeping, not really awake, just in that day-dreaming phase where your mind wanders and makes memorable dreams.

At one point, the still-marginally-conscious part of my brain looks around and goes, "Y'know, I'm sure I remember seeing a scene *just* like this one. Where...?" And then I remembered. Pirates of the Caribbean. The first one. When it's revealed that Orlando Bloom (Will Turner, apprentice swordsmith) made all the swords and his master was just a drunkard who slept all the time.

I was a tailor instead of a swordsmith, and there were other differences in detail, but... yeah. Pirates. I just can't escape it.

Had a lovely weekend, all things considered. Among the highlights:

- Bought some books at Concordia's co-op bookstore. They were having a special sale, and I'm a sucker for new-used books.

- Exchanged my computer's headset for one that actually works. Huzzah for technology.

- Discovered the place that sells sesame balls (it's called The Jade Garden, in Chinatown). So tasty that I went back for a second after I finished the first.

- Had breakfast with Marc's family. Truly odd was the lack of Marc. But it was a nice breakfast nonetheless.

- Connecting with a new friend on video Skype. I'll be chatting with her again on Wednesday.

- Saw the new transformers movie with Ian. Lots of things going boom, but I wasn't particularly impressed with the movie overall. Even knowing it was going to be a 2-dimensional action movie, I found it a little TOO 2-dimensional.

- Relaxed. Oh, yes. I forgot how much I like just having time to relax at home.

Anyway, time for bed. Gotta get up for work tomorrow, don'cha'know? At least it's another 4-day week. And if I'm really lucky, there will be ice cream left over from last Thursday's ice cream day, in which our social committee decided to buy ice cream for the office and WAY overestimated the amount we'd eat. G'night all.

When filming a movie that had a scene set in a cave, one of the gaffers (lighting guys) was asked, "Where is the light supposed to be coming from in this cave?"

His answer? "Same place as the music."

Awesome.

My goodness, it's been a while! I've actually had the links ready for over a week, but haven't gotten the chance to post. So here's a super-duper grab bag post to get myself caught up!

1. How to feel like The Incredible Hulk in 2009 (17-minute video) -- a video of Tim Ferriss talking at the Entertainment Gathering, talking about how he manages to learn things very quickly by questioning "obvious" guidelines. Typical Ferriss. (@ The Four-Hour Work Week)

2. 33 inspirational YouTube videos conveying genuine life lessons (videos) -- pretty much exactly what it sounds like. I was surprised how many of these I hadn't seen before, and how many I had.

3. 44 ways to make your 2009 awesome -- a long list of potential goals you can have for the new year, if you don't have one already. Some are kind of nifty. (@ Master Your Card)

4. 11 ways to expand your mind and recover from brain rot -- again, a list of stuff you can do when "brain rot" sets in. A lot of overlap with the previous list. (@ Zen Habits)

5. Boulevard of Broken Dreams / Wonderwall remix (4.5-minute video) -- I heard this playing in a mall a while ago and absolutely had to find it online. Very nice remix.

6. A mother's gifts -- a little parable that teaches some steps for living in hard times. (@ The Simple Dollar)

7. How to cut out home heating oil, Japanese style -- an interesting take on how the Japanese live during the winter. Hint: they don't heat their whole homes. (@ No Impact Man)

8. Antikythera machine (3-minute video) -- a reproduction of an ancient Greek computer! How cool! (@ The Long Now)

9. Livescribe -- I really wish this had existed back when I was a student. It's a pen / audio recorder that synchs into your computer, so that you can play the audio from when you wrote something. Very cool concept.

10. "Star Wars" a cappella tribute to John Williams (4-minute video, hat tip to Ernst) -- four-part harmony about Star Wars, using soundtrack songs from other John Williams movies. Also very cool.

11. Africa in perspective (picture) -- how big is Africa? Really big!

12. I'm an idiot (xkcd comic) -- man, have I been here before. Well, not quite.

Why is it that in all the shows and movies I've watched lately that have mind-readers (okay, one movie and one TV show), the phrase, "I guess we fooled him" comes up? I mean, the guy's a mind-reader. The whole point is that you can't fool him, because he reads minds! And you know that! You foolish, foolish people!

When dealing with a mind reader, always, always assume that they know everything you do, and now it's time to play to their own self-interest. You can't fool them, you can't trick them, you can only make them want the same thing you do!

When I was in high school, one of my favourite teachers introduced me to a short story by Kurt Vonnegut called "Harrison Bergeron." (Click for the full text of the story.) Shortly afterwards, I found a made-for-TV movie of the same name, starring Sean Astin, based on Vonnegut's story. (Click here for the complete video... I think.)

Between them, they have been some of the most influential fiction I've ever been exposed to. Perhaps not the best fiction, but the ideas in them have influenced me for years. The basic premise can be summed up by a quote from the movie: it is a world in which "everyone is not created equal; it is the government's duty to render them so." People who are extraordinary or above-average in any way -- physically or intellectually -- are handicapped down to the level of the lowest common denominator.

Now I find out that there's a movie in post-production, called 2081, inspired by "Harrison Bergeron." You can see a trailer here. It should be out sometime in 2009. I'll definitely be going. The trailer only shows scenes from the short story, and I'm not sure how they're going to extend it into feature-film length, but I'll be interested in seeing it first-hand.

(As an aside, my high school teacher deserves credit only for introducing me to the piece, not for its analysis. When I submitted by report on it, full of a discussion about equality vs. similarity, she graded it rather poorly. She thought that the main takeaway from the short story was about the influence of TV. Personally, I find that to be a rather minor theme, but sometimes there's just no arguing with authority, especially when they're grading your papers.)

They're making me watch more scary movies. I hate scary movies. I really need to talk to someone about this.