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In this case, we're talking about The Onion Router from the EFF.
Jun. 9th, 2008
We saw both CJ7 and Kung Fu Panda yesterday.
CJ7. As previously described, Stephen Chow's take on ET or Lilo & Stitch. He's a poor construction worker who is working himself to death to send his kid to the best private school in town after his wife dies. They live literally in the dumps, in a roach-infested shack (which offers some unique opportunities to practice their Kung Fu). Many rifts/symbolic lifts from Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer, it might lift from other Chow films but those are the only two that I've seen. It's a very lightweight comedy that's lots of fun. It has heart, as they say in The Player. Lots of budding romance, lots of fun with "A Boy and his Alien Dog." Also lots of "youth rebelling against school authorities/bullies" stuff. Definitely recommended, but not remotely in the same league as Hustle/Soccer as it s not a Kung Fu flic. There's a noticeable editing gaff where the son suddenly spouts a black eye with no indication as to how he got it, but what's a HK flic without some editing/continuity mistakes.
Kung Fu Panda. Interesting. We've had two American Kung Fu movies release in the last month or so, this and the Jackie Chan/Jet Li film, Forbidden Kingdom. Granted, the latter wasn't an animated comedy, the stories have a lot of common elements and both have Jackie Chan. It's by Dreamworks, and it doesn't disappoint. It's Classic Kung Fu Plot #3: schlep with no Kung Fu is chosen by mysterious master to fight Great Evil, and a lot of time is devoted to the Training Montage. There are three Big Battles in addition to the traditional "Getting Beaten Up By The Master Because You're Unworthy" sequences. Lots of good "out of the culture" references. Very amusing film, and perfectly suited to animation. But it is not a Jackie Chan comedy, it is a Jack Black comedy, and taken as that, it's a very good film. For me, I think it had a much stronger Hong Kong feel to it than Forbidden Kingdom did. Also recommended.
Both go on the list of Buy This DVD, but Panda goes on the Buy When Released list, whereas CJ7 goes on the When I Stumble Across A Copy list.
And why am I writing two movie reviews at 2am when I have to work the next day? Stupid poodle.... ;-)
CJ7. As previously described, Stephen Chow's take on ET or Lilo & Stitch. He's a poor construction worker who is working himself to death to send his kid to the best private school in town after his wife dies. They live literally in the dumps, in a roach-infested shack (which offers some unique opportunities to practice their Kung Fu). Many rifts/symbolic lifts from Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer, it might lift from other Chow films but those are the only two that I've seen. It's a very lightweight comedy that's lots of fun. It has heart, as they say in The Player. Lots of budding romance, lots of fun with "A Boy and his Alien Dog." Also lots of "youth rebelling against school authorities/bullies" stuff. Definitely recommended, but not remotely in the same league as Hustle/Soccer as it s not a Kung Fu flic. There's a noticeable editing gaff where the son suddenly spouts a black eye with no indication as to how he got it, but what's a HK flic without some editing/continuity mistakes.
Kung Fu Panda. Interesting. We've had two American Kung Fu movies release in the last month or so, this and the Jackie Chan/Jet Li film, Forbidden Kingdom. Granted, the latter wasn't an animated comedy, the stories have a lot of common elements and both have Jackie Chan. It's by Dreamworks, and it doesn't disappoint. It's Classic Kung Fu Plot #3: schlep with no Kung Fu is chosen by mysterious master to fight Great Evil, and a lot of time is devoted to the Training Montage. There are three Big Battles in addition to the traditional "Getting Beaten Up By The Master Because You're Unworthy" sequences. Lots of good "out of the culture" references. Very amusing film, and perfectly suited to animation. But it is not a Jackie Chan comedy, it is a Jack Black comedy, and taken as that, it's a very good film. For me, I think it had a much stronger Hong Kong feel to it than Forbidden Kingdom did. Also recommended.
Both go on the list of Buy This DVD, but Panda goes on the Buy When Released list, whereas CJ7 goes on the When I Stumble Across A Copy list.
And why am I writing two movie reviews at 2am when I have to work the next day? Stupid poodle.... ;-)
He saw a thing (story, article, video, I dunno) comparing intelligence between countries. Ignoring cultural differences, because you can't compare the results of the same IQ test between countries, consider that every population is going to have a top 10% group of students.
Because of India's population being so much larger than the US, their top 10% student population is larger than the entire US student population.
And China produces a top 10% group also.
This country is so utterly screwed.
Because of India's population being so much larger than the US, their top 10% student population is larger than the entire US student population.
And China produces a top 10% group also.
This country is so utterly screwed.
Newsweek article: The Coming Energy Wars
Jun. 9th, 2008 06:23 pmSuch a wonderful world we live in! A nice long article on some of the ramifications of climbing energy prices. One thing that I was thoroughly surprised by was the line that oil was $10 a barrel less than a decade ago!
I love this snippet: "...some analysts see a shift toward regional trade, and even a major reversal of globalization itself, as rising transport costs make it too expensive to ship many kinds of goods long distances. A major acceleration in the transfer of wealth that has, in the past five years, shifted trillions of petrodollars from oil consumers to producers would alter the world balance of power—including a boost for the troublesome oil autocrats of Iran, Venezuela and Russia.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/139395/output/print
Oh, but everything's OK! OPEC wants to have talks with producers, refiners, and consumers of oil! So I'm sure everything will work out in the end.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080609/ap_on_bi_ge/saudi_oil;_ylt=Am9LQ8JQBRGckeIsPFZ8zFGyBhIF
Never mind that "Tens of thousands of truckers in Spain, France and Portugal on Monday stepped up protests against rising fuel prices, causing mayhem on highways and blocking border crossings."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080609/ts_afp/europeinflationprotestenergytransport
I love this snippet: "...some analysts see a shift toward regional trade, and even a major reversal of globalization itself, as rising transport costs make it too expensive to ship many kinds of goods long distances. A major acceleration in the transfer of wealth that has, in the past five years, shifted trillions of petrodollars from oil consumers to producers would alter the world balance of power—including a boost for the troublesome oil autocrats of Iran, Venezuela and Russia.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/139395/output/print
Oh, but everything's OK! OPEC wants to have talks with producers, refiners, and consumers of oil! So I'm sure everything will work out in the end.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080609/ap_on_bi_ge/saudi_oil;_ylt=Am9LQ8JQBRGckeIsPFZ8zFGyBhIF
Never mind that "Tens of thousands of truckers in Spain, France and Portugal on Monday stepped up protests against rising fuel prices, causing mayhem on highways and blocking border crossings."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080609/ts_afp/europeinflationprotestenergytransport