Mark

The Book of Five Rings

Military / /

Miyamoto Musashi is an interesting fellow. A ronin (masterless samurai), he roamed feudal Japan in the early 17th century regularly fighting scores of men alone, and winning. Late in life, he dictated the secrets he had learned throughout his travels, calling it The Book of Five Rings. Each of the first four rings (Earth, Water, Fire, Wind) deals with a different aspect of overcoming adversity, while the last ring reveals what he saw as the innermost tenet of his philosophy. I was introduced to this subject by a rather elegant 5k entry. Vote here.

Wu Xia Pien

Movies / /

The Mandarin term wu xia pian originally referred to the genre of martial arts films. “Wu xia” means chivalrous combat, and “pian” means film. It�s China’s version of the Western, but instead of six-shooters and saloons, its swords and kung-fu. It’s arguably the first form of martial arts film, with its origins dating back hundreds of years (in the form of literature and theater).

Which is probably why the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon flopped in its homeland. To us Westerners, CTHD embodied a different culture with a familiar edge and it was a refreshing change from the typical Hollywood action flick. Critics and audiences alike hailed it as an original blurring between eastern and western cinema, but these types of films have been around for decades back in China.

That being said, CTHD is a particularly good example of the Eastern and Western combination that will hopefully improve both sides of the equation. I, for one, will certainly investigate the genre further, as doubtless others will, but CTHD is definitely going to be the standard by which the others will be judged.

Why high speed access was invented

Computers & Internet / /

by DyRE:

It wasn’t directly to give people a faster Internet connection but I think it was created because of some geek’s sister. See, this sister, she had a very active social life. Whenever she was home, she got phone calls out the wazoo. She wasn’t home much though, because her callers usually invited her somewhere. She was popular.

She had a very active social life.

She was popular.

Then her geeky little brother, who was petrified of social physical interaction, started going online via a dial-up connection… all the time. Soon this girl never got any calls because the line was always busy. Her parents didn’t want to pay for another phone line and she couldn’t afford one herself. Luckily, her father was a some sort of technician at [insert phone or cable company name here]. One day, he was brooding over his recent troubles concerning his daughter’s attempt to dismantle the computer to find which part was the modem and beat his son with it. As he contemplated this situation, he inadvertantly began staring at the phone line. Or the cable TV line. Whichever came first (DSL or cable modems). Suddenly, the idea hit him and he rushed off to the company offices to present this new high speed idea to his superiors. All of them having one popular child and one geeky child themselves thought it was wonderful. Thus, the phone line was free (until the girl began getting calls again) and the bandwidth was used like nobody’s business… and all were happy.

The end.

I honestly wouldn’t be suprised if thats how it actually happened. [originally posted at 4degreez.com]

A monumental decline

Arts & Letters / /

I know I’ve talked about this before, but I’m going to do it again, because this article is good. Just what is up with the Simpsons? When I saw Mike Reiss speak, I was somewhat suprised at his thoughts on the quality of the show. He basically agreed that the show’s quality was declining, and he stated that even the current “young” writers agree. As the shows became more rediculous, more one-sided, and basically less substantial, I’m still hoping for a resurgence. A fresh infusion of humor from a young up-and-comer might be able to salvage something. Then again, as Mike said in his lecture, the show has been on for 12 years, way longer than any show can sustain a good quality… He also said that since the ratings are higher than ever, the show won’t be going off the air any time soon…

At the end of the article, the author mentions another animated program that has taken the place of The Simpsons as TV’s most enjoyable half-hour of edgy satire. I assume he is referring to the currently defunct (but coming back!) Family Guy, which I found to be very entertaining. I can not wait for its (hopefully) triumphant return. Heres another article by the same author that captures the essense of That 70s Show quite nicely. That 70s Show has really grown on me, in a I-don’t-mind-having-it-on-in-the-background-while-I-fiddle-with-my-computer kind of way. I remember joking about it with my roommates when if first appeared (“Hey Dan, which 70s show is coming on?…. Ohhhhhhhh, thaaat 70s show…”), but that was over 2 years ago. Go figure.

Elements of Phyle

Arts & Letters / /

In an effort to continue the mindnumbing posts about genetic mutants and the letter X, I found the Elements of Phyle, a clever jab at both the X-Files and the infamous Elements of Style. Its a handy guide to proper grammar, spelling, and style with X-Files themed examples:

Could have and could’ve are good.

Could of is bad.

(Ditto with would and should.)

“How strange,” Mulder thought, reading the fanfic. “Scully would never say ‘could of.’ Not even in an internal monologue.”

The Legacy

Movies / /

It seems that the latest premise 20th Century Fox is considering for X-Men 2 concerns the Legacy Virus, a man-made disease that is only infectious to mutants, eventually resulting in their deaths. I’m assuming this was a story arc that originally appeared in the comics, as Michael Chabon’s proposal (see below) also used the Legacy virus as a major story element. It is only a treatment and could very well be passed over in favor of something else. Of all the rumored story lines, I think the most interesting is the Wolverine Solo pic which focuses on the Logan character and a search for his identity (fitting in perfectly with the ending of the first film). There are several advantages for Fox:

  1. Not having to reassemble the massive cast dealing with schedules, negotiations, etc would free up time and allow the shoot to begin sooner.
  2. Wolverine’s massive popularity among fans would ensure a good box office and omitting the other 5 or 6 X-Men would streamline the story and keep the budget down.
  3. When execs see the possibility of expanding the franchise while keeping the budget and cast concerns to a minimum, they try and do so.

Not to mention how much Hugh Jackman kicks ass as Wolverine. Whether or not that would make a good movie, I don’t know. I would be really worried about their explainations for Wolverine’s past, so maybe we’d be better off with another ensemble film.

A Brief Bout of Mutant Madness

Movies / /

The X-Men and I: Michael Chabon’s thoughts and proposal for the X-Men movie. It never saw the light of day, but its interesting to note that Chabon’s 4 elements that are essential to the X-Men are present in the version of X-Men that did make it to the screen. Chabon’s actual proposal is a good read, but I don’t know if it would have been any better than the filmed version. Chabon wrote last year’s Wonder Boys, a movie friends have been hounding me to see; I shall have to do that.

Special thanks to Metascene (Meatscene?), which has been updated more times in the past few weeks than it has this year. Good work Fred!

The Science Behind

Science & Technology / /

The Science Behind the X-Files is quite well done. Several episodes are broken down into their various scientific elements which are further explained with referenced resources. Fun, informative, and geeky. Thanks to Nothing for pointing that site out. Nothing has a circuitry themed design similar to (and much better than) one of my first designs, except mine had NAND and NOR gates.

The Science Behind Merla’s Cosmatron is also interesting. Remember Voltron? Who knew they were teaching me about sub-atomic particles… Those who examine the fake webcam pictures carefully have observed a Voltron-like object in the background…

Hard Drinkin’ Lincoln

Arts & Letters, Best Entries / /

I attended a lecture at Villanova University last night which was quite interesting. The speaker was Mike Reiss, one of the writer/producers of the Simpsons (among various other stints at The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and the ever-popular Alf). He doesn’t work at the Simpsons as much as he used to, but still hangs around the offices occasionally. Some interesting tidbits* from the lecture:

  • On Maude Flanders death: “The character just sucked. She sucked and the woman who voiced her wanted a raise… so we killed her.”
  • On the rumored Simpsons Movie: “Its in the contract that a Simpson’s movie must be written by Matt Groening himself.” Apparently, Matt Groening doesl literally nothing with the show anymore, and he never has done much, so Mike said we shouldn’t expect movies anytime soon.
  • Since the Simpsons, he has had a few pet projects, one of which was two series of cartoons for the now defunct Icebox.com. The animated shorts were called “Hard Drinkin’ Lincoln” and “Queer Duck”. They were quite entertaining. (sorry, but I couldn’t find any of them online)
  • In the Q & A, someone from the audience asked if the Simpson’s writers (and the way they used to shock people in earlier episodes) were influenced by the Dada movement of the early 20th century. Mike laughed and said “We’re just dirty”.
  • Mike was one of the creators of Troy McLure; You might remember him from such movies as “The Contrabulous Fabtraption of Professor Horatio Hufnagel” and “‘P’ is for Psycho”.
  • Mr. Smithers was originally black (observe the first few episodes closely, and you can see the “black” Smithers), but they thought having him be the servant of an old, rich, white guy could be offensive. So they made him white, gay, and in love with Mr. Burns.
  • Mr. Burns’ character wasn’t always supposed to be evil. The evil parts are based on Fox president Barry Diller.
  • How could they get away with [insert offensive antics here]? “Hey, we work for Fox.”
  • Conan O’Brien is funny (even after a 16 hour workday).

Theres lots more that I can’t remember at the moment, but it was a good time and I enjoyed myself immensely. If you ever get a chance to see this guy speak, check him out.

* – I’m going from memory here, so some of the quotes might be a little off, but you get the gist of it.