I recently saw the film "American Hustle" (quite good, I would recommend it), in which there's a con involving an Arab oil magnate in Atlantic City, and I thought of this New York Times article about Middle Eastern investors doing business in the West:
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/12/25/islamic-banks-stuffed-with-cash-explore-partnerships-in-west/?hp
I find the crossroads of disparate cultures fascinating (possibly because I occupy one such intersection myself). There's always a certain contentious power dynamic, no matter how seamless each side wants their dance to be -- it's simply a matter of navigating cultural differences, and where there's difference, there's compromise to be reached.
In the cases mentioned in the above article, it's a matter of Islamic law, which to Westerners accustomed to separation of Church and state, seems antiquated and alien. Of course, considering that American bills still have "In God We Trust" printed on them, we're not 100% secular either. The United States is just a less homogenous society, which means that it's much harder to enshrine any particular religious practice as law without provoking backlash from other religions. In the Middle East, on the other hand, Islamic tenets -- such as the prohibition on interest payments, for example -- are so ingrained in the legal system, in everyone's day-to-day operations, that it would hardly seem out of the ordinary for Islamic companies to request certain religious accommodations as part and parcel of doing business.
Each side tends to think of itself as "normal" and everyone else as "other." That's just how we're wired--it was an evolutionary advantage, to be sure, and we've remained so long after our species abandoned the "small tribes roaming the Serengeti" lifestyle. It's a product of genes ensuring their own survival, methinks, and it has been the root cause of a lot of conflict through the centuries (and even today). But in a world where it is generally acknowledged that outright war between states is undesirable for all states in question (with certain notable exceptions, many of them precipitated by stateless organizations or religious factions), I suppose a lot of that cultural distance gets sublimated into power plays in negotiation (and similar, otherwise constructive enterprises).
I expect we'll see more and more of this in our increasingly globalized world. Today, it's not just governments that engage with each other -- it's entire populations that have to reconcile "us" and "them."
Showing posts with label film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label film. Show all posts
Monday, December 30, 2013
Saturday, August 10, 2013
My Totoros Have Multiplied!
I now have two Totoros!
I acquired the blue one in Japan five years ago; my sister got me the grey one for my birthday just a few days ago. (I promise I haven't put the latter through the wash; it's just the texture of its fur making it look particularly disheveled.)
"My Neighbor Totoro," despite having a rather thin plot, is one of my all-time favourite films (this is mostly due to its sheer cuteness). Miyazaki and his co-conspirators at Studio Ghibli are geniuses (genii?).
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Curiosity Rover Sings Happy Birthday to Itself
Two days late (the rover Curiosity landed on Mars on August 5, 2012), but just as awesome:
http://youtu.be/uxVVgBAosqg
I am reminded of WALL-E. (I trust I'm not the only one?)
http://youtu.be/uxVVgBAosqg
I am reminded of WALL-E. (I trust I'm not the only one?)
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Today
was wonderful and quintessentially New York -- the sort of day that makes me enormously thankful to live in such a vibrant, diverse city full of old friends and affable strangers. I don't mean to turn this blog into a series of diary entries -- that would seem rather self-indulgent -- but today was full of sights and sounds and people that I want to remember.
It began with brunch with a dear friend who is returning to the city after college, a relocation for which I'm grateful because I've missed her these few years. We go back a long time; we played together as children, went to the same elementary school and Chinese school, and have seen each other through our best and worst moments ever after.
We ate at a Greek place in our neighborhood in Queens; we've been coming here once or twice a year since high school. I had an excellent crêpe and we caught up on each other's lives -- we talked about work and friends and our grand ambitions in life. She's one of the few people with whom I discuss the latter topic; despite pursuing radically different fields, we have similarly coherent and somewhat lofty visions of the future. Kindred spirits, I'd say.
After brunch, I met up with a college friend in Manhattan. On the way there, I spotted a group of people in 1920s garb:
The snare drum (obscured in this photo by the man in black), the djembe, the bongos, and the bagpipes seem like a highly unlikely combination (especially the bagpipes!) but they work surprisingly well together. It was a perfect microcosm of the diversity and cooperative spirit of this extraordinary city. (My friend got their card, afterwards; apparently they have a website.)
We then got coffee with a third friend, another Stanford alumnus making his way in New York. We only had an hour, but it was an hour well-spent: a potent reminder that even in this bustling, hectic place, we make time for each other because it's the small moments as much as the grand gestures that comprise any human understanding.
We had dinner near his apartment in Greenwich Village with his roommate. We tried an American restaurant she suggested, and passed a merry hour or two getting to know each other. She's an architect from Hawai'i, so naturally I broached the question of whether she can play the ukulele! (Passably, was the answer.) My friend plays the guitar and also, to a lesser extent, the ukulele, so we're going to play for each other sometime. (I didn't know this about him until today.)
And then we went our separate ways, the two of them to catch a film in the Village, and I to the F train headed into Queens. I spent a quiet hour reading on the subway, with the rumble of the train and a dozen indistinct conversations in the background. In Queens, I stopped by my favorite neighborhood bakery to buy a cake for Father's Day tomorrow.
All in all, it was a lovely day in the City. Here's to more such days in the future.
It began with brunch with a dear friend who is returning to the city after college, a relocation for which I'm grateful because I've missed her these few years. We go back a long time; we played together as children, went to the same elementary school and Chinese school, and have seen each other through our best and worst moments ever after.
We ate at a Greek place in our neighborhood in Queens; we've been coming here once or twice a year since high school. I had an excellent crêpe and we caught up on each other's lives -- we talked about work and friends and our grand ambitions in life. She's one of the few people with whom I discuss the latter topic; despite pursuing radically different fields, we have similarly coherent and somewhat lofty visions of the future. Kindred spirits, I'd say.
After brunch, I met up with a college friend in Manhattan. On the way there, I spotted a group of people in 1920s garb:
There seem to be a number of Jazz Age-themed events going on this summer, even more so than usual (likely prompted by the recent The Great Gatsby film). I was reminded of the Gatsby party I attended in May -- exactly a month ago, as it happens -- which was an industry event hosted by Fitzgerald's publisher and included a costume contest. (I dressed up but didn't win; there were some truly spectacular costumes!)
So I got bubble tea in Chinatown with my friend (it seems like I have quite a few moments that involve bubble tea...). He's a Californian who moved to New York a few months ago, whom I didn't realize was in town until I bumped into him at an alumni event on Monday! He was a few years ahead of me in school and we'd lost touch for a while after he graduated, but he's now working at a start-up in Silicon Alley and lives downtown.
We met up with one of his friends in Central Park, who was hanging out on the lawn with a few other people we didn't know. It was a gathering of, at least from my perspective, friends and strangers connected to each other by a few tenuous degrees of separation. Though it seems unlikely that I'll encounter these people again -- and in a few months I would be hard-pressed to even recognize them on the street -- for an hour or so, we shared a blanket, a conversation, a patch of sunlight in the Park -- a tiny slice of New York.
At one point, there was a moment of silence -- a completely natural, contented lull in the conversation. We watched a group of small children chase each other around on the lawn, and soon observed that they were all following one small boy who held aloft some sort of styrofoam disc. I was distinctly reminded of The Lord of the Flies -- it was an uncanny analogue of the conch! I said as much to the others, and we had an entertaining few minutes trying to spot the Piggy of the group.
Our group splintered apart in twos and threes. My friend and I wandered through Central Park conversing and taking in the sights and sounds of summer. We stumbled upon a guitarist/vocalist duo performing in front of the lake (with a very professional sound system) and sat in the grass for a few songs. We found a large, fenced-off section of road where people were rollerskating in circles around a rock band which had set up in the middle of the walkway. There was a chalked-off section next to the band where people were dancing, and so we ended up swing-dancing to live music in the middle of a roller derby! (My friend is, incidentally, an excellent dancer; it's a shame we didn't overlap at school for longer.) We also happened upon trio of busking musicians consisting of two drummers and a bagpiper:
We then got coffee with a third friend, another Stanford alumnus making his way in New York. We only had an hour, but it was an hour well-spent: a potent reminder that even in this bustling, hectic place, we make time for each other because it's the small moments as much as the grand gestures that comprise any human understanding.
We had dinner near his apartment in Greenwich Village with his roommate. We tried an American restaurant she suggested, and passed a merry hour or two getting to know each other. She's an architect from Hawai'i, so naturally I broached the question of whether she can play the ukulele! (Passably, was the answer.) My friend plays the guitar and also, to a lesser extent, the ukulele, so we're going to play for each other sometime. (I didn't know this about him until today.)
And then we went our separate ways, the two of them to catch a film in the Village, and I to the F train headed into Queens. I spent a quiet hour reading on the subway, with the rumble of the train and a dozen indistinct conversations in the background. In Queens, I stopped by my favorite neighborhood bakery to buy a cake for Father's Day tomorrow.
All in all, it was a lovely day in the City. Here's to more such days in the future.
Monday, September 10, 2012
BBC: Etiquette Ninjas at the Cinema
A novel and clever way of getting people to behave at the movies:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19622445
I think one of the biggest reasons people -- especially people who are normally reasonable and well-mannered -- misbehave in certain specific situations, like at cinemas and behind the wheel, is because they think they won't be held accountable. There's a veneer of anonymity that strips away self-consciousness of, and shame about, bad behaviours. Having "etiquette ninjas" point out their rudeness instantly draws attention to the wrongdoer as a misbehaving individual, in a public setting where people don't want to be embarrassed. It's an excellent way of bringing those civilizing qualities back, with humor and style.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19622445
I think one of the biggest reasons people -- especially people who are normally reasonable and well-mannered -- misbehave in certain specific situations, like at cinemas and behind the wheel, is because they think they won't be held accountable. There's a veneer of anonymity that strips away self-consciousness of, and shame about, bad behaviours. Having "etiquette ninjas" point out their rudeness instantly draws attention to the wrongdoer as a misbehaving individual, in a public setting where people don't want to be embarrassed. It's an excellent way of bringing those civilizing qualities back, with humor and style.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
io9: Blowfish-Man Film
This is somewhat disturbing, and so quintessentially Japanese:
http://io9.com/5914061/watch-a-man-turn-into-a-blowfish-in-one-horrifying-short?tag=trailer-frenzy
I'll admit, I watched that trailer about five times, with what I'm sure was an expression of horrified fascination on my face. The CGI is really something; it's in that zone between extremely realistic and "you know it's impossible even though your eyes tell you otherwise." It evokes the sort of feeling that Neil Gaiman's or China Miéville's writing does; the milieu is rather Lovecraftian.
http://io9.com/5914061/watch-a-man-turn-into-a-blowfish-in-one-horrifying-short?tag=trailer-frenzy
I'll admit, I watched that trailer about five times, with what I'm sure was an expression of horrified fascination on my face. The CGI is really something; it's in that zone between extremely realistic and "you know it's impossible even though your eyes tell you otherwise." It evokes the sort of feeling that Neil Gaiman's or China Miéville's writing does; the milieu is rather Lovecraftian.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
BBC: V (for Vendetta) as a Cultural Symbol
In light of the Occupy movement's and Anonymous's adoption of the Guy Fawkes mask as a rallying image, Alan Moore, the creator of the original comic V for Vendetta writes for the BBC on the cultural cachet that the vigilante V holds in the collective consciousness:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16968689
The tagline should be V's quotation about how he's not a man, but an idea -- and ideas never die. One of the problems that the Occupy movement, at least, will have to confront, is precisely that it's an idea, an exercise of populist sentiment. Its lack of leadership and a practical agenda might well deflate the movement. The advantage that V had is that his idea was embodied in a single person, with his own goals and vision, his own coherent plan of action. He was the figurehead, if not the de facto leader of his own revolution. Occupy doesn't have that single person, than coherency. It has the mask -- many such masks -- but not the single visionary behind it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16968689
The tagline should be V's quotation about how he's not a man, but an idea -- and ideas never die. One of the problems that the Occupy movement, at least, will have to confront, is precisely that it's an idea, an exercise of populist sentiment. Its lack of leadership and a practical agenda might well deflate the movement. The advantage that V had is that his idea was embodied in a single person, with his own goals and vision, his own coherent plan of action. He was the figurehead, if not the de facto leader of his own revolution. Occupy doesn't have that single person, than coherency. It has the mask -- many such masks -- but not the single visionary behind it.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Page One, a Documentary
I attended an on-campus screening of the documentary Page One: Inside the New York Times (co-sponsored by The Stanford Daily and the communications department, I think) today. It was, I believe, showing at a number of smaller theatres over the summer, as well as at Sundance. I enjoyed it -- it was at once realistic and optimistic, and quite well-made, besides.
The heavy focus on the advent of citizen journalism and the much-hyped "death of (print) newspapers" mirrors the self-publishing and e-book issues in book publishing today -- something that I know better than I do than the news industry. In both cases, it's a matter of negotiating relatively peaceful change, especially where technology is concerned, under threat of obsolescence. News media, methinks, is less hidebound than book publishing in that regard.
It was interesting to note that much of the citizen journalism going on today is responsive and aggregative -- that is, bloggers and websites responding to reporting by traditional media outlets, and aggregating material from professional news media. Citizen journalism is just not sufficiently reliable and or comprehensive, at least not yet -- and I'm not convinced that it will ever be, because consistent, good, and consistently good journalism requires infrastructure (which in turn requires the sort of resources that civilian journalists can rarely access) and training (which is usually acquired at journalism school and/or through working in the field, under the guidance of more experienced journalists). Certainly, there are isolated incidences in which passersby on the ground are first to gain access to material simply because the spontaneity of some news precludes real-time coverage. But on the whole, I think the documentary has proven that professional journalism is not dead.
The heavy focus on the advent of citizen journalism and the much-hyped "death of (print) newspapers" mirrors the self-publishing and e-book issues in book publishing today -- something that I know better than I do than the news industry. In both cases, it's a matter of negotiating relatively peaceful change, especially where technology is concerned, under threat of obsolescence. News media, methinks, is less hidebound than book publishing in that regard.
It was interesting to note that much of the citizen journalism going on today is responsive and aggregative -- that is, bloggers and websites responding to reporting by traditional media outlets, and aggregating material from professional news media. Citizen journalism is just not sufficiently reliable and or comprehensive, at least not yet -- and I'm not convinced that it will ever be, because consistent, good, and consistently good journalism requires infrastructure (which in turn requires the sort of resources that civilian journalists can rarely access) and training (which is usually acquired at journalism school and/or through working in the field, under the guidance of more experienced journalists). Certainly, there are isolated incidences in which passersby on the ground are first to gain access to material simply because the spontaneity of some news precludes real-time coverage. But on the whole, I think the documentary has proven that professional journalism is not dead.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Bonfire Toffee
Seeing as it's the Fifth of November, a few friends and I are watching V for Vendetta. I made Bonfire Toffee for the occasion, using a recipe from the BBC Food Programme:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/foodprogramme_recipe_toffee1.shtml
It's really sticky and tastes strongly of molasses. I've tested it on my friends, and they like it!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/foodprogramme_recipe_toffee1.shtml
It's really sticky and tastes strongly of molasses. I've tested it on my friends, and they like it!
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock
The classic game, new and updated for the 23rd century:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock
I am amused.
I found this not long ago on a Wikipedia crawl (you know, where you just keep clicking on interesting links until you look up half an hour later and find that you've ended up on a page completely unrelated to the one you started with). I think I was looking at cathedrals at one point.
Edit: I am told that I am completely behind the times, and that this game is old news in the nerd (and especially the Trek) community. I can't say I'm surprised.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock
I am amused.
I found this not long ago on a Wikipedia crawl (you know, where you just keep clicking on interesting links until you look up half an hour later and find that you've ended up on a page completely unrelated to the one you started with). I think I was looking at cathedrals at one point.
Edit: I am told that I am completely behind the times, and that this game is old news in the nerd (and especially the Trek) community. I can't say I'm surprised.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
MSNBC: Endeavour Crew Recreates Star Trek Movie Poster
The space shuttle Endeavour embarked on its last mission four days ago (after its decommissioning, the only remaining operational shuttle of the original NASA fleet will be the Atlantis). Traditionally, every mission has a themed poster. This mission, STS-134, modeled its poster on the recent Star Trek film poster, which I think is quite fitting, and quite clever. (The inner geek (or maybe not-so-inner geek) in me just had a field day.)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43038704/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/endeavour-crew-recreates-star-trek-movie-poster/
What would have been even better would be if it were the shuttle Enterprise, but that was mostly a test shuttle and was decommissioned early in the shuttle program. Still, a girl can dream.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43038704/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/endeavour-crew-recreates-star-trek-movie-poster/
What would have been even better would be if it were the shuttle Enterprise, but that was mostly a test shuttle and was decommissioned early in the shuttle program. Still, a girl can dream.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Tron Slug
Alex (Q) was talking about this in the dining hall the other day, and I knew I had to see it for myself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelidonura_varians
Does that explain the post title? (It's a reference to this film.)
(Any relation to the previous post is completely unintentional, I promise. But it is cute.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelidonura_varians
Does that explain the post title? (It's a reference to this film.)
(Any relation to the previous post is completely unintentional, I promise. But it is cute.)
Friday, August 13, 2010
Faux-Starfleet Pods at the Mall
I was at the mall again last weekend (I think I've filled my mall quota for the year; I've been thrice this summer already) because my family decided to celebrate the occasion of my twentieth birthday by taking me to get my ears pierced (upon which I discovered that my ears are asymmetrical, but that's a whole different story). Anyhow, as my sister and I were exiting the store, we happened upon this:
I thought it looked uncannily similar to the pod in which Spock maroons Kirk on the ice planet in the recent Star Trek film; I half expected someone in a Starfleet uniform to pop out of it. Turns out, it's an artificial tanning device. Weird.
I thought it looked uncannily similar to the pod in which Spock maroons Kirk on the ice planet in the recent Star Trek film; I half expected someone in a Starfleet uniform to pop out of it. Turns out, it's an artificial tanning device. Weird.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard
I'm a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings, but even if you're not, as long as you've seen the films, you'll find this very funny:
It's been around the internets for a while, so a lot of you have probably seen it. Still, it's worth revisiting. I watched it for probably the thousandth time tonight!
It's been around the internets for a while, so a lot of you have probably seen it. Still, it's worth revisiting. I watched it for probably the thousandth time tonight!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
The Two Towers, with Engrish Subtitles
The Lord of the Rings films were international bestsellers ("Bestseller"is the book term; I'm not sure what the film equivalent might be.), with all the perils that international, multilingual showing brings. Here are a series of screenshots of a Chinese-dubbed version, which somebody attempted to subtitle in English. It's a hoot.
http://www.angelfire.com/rings/ttt-subtitles/index.html
http://www.angelfire.com/rings/ttt-subtitles/index.html
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