Posts Tagged “films”
Ross • 20th Aug 2009 • Living • films, fun, games
One night last year, for no reason, Helen and I started a game in which words from film titles had to be replaced with types of meat. It has proved to be a game that keeps on giving. So far, the top contenters are:
- The Lamb Shank Redemption
- The Quantum of Sausage
- I Ham Legend
- The 51st Steak
- Catch Me If You Spam
- Gran Chorizo
- If These Walls Could Pork
Any to add? Fish-related words and non-meat substitutes are not allowed (so no The Pike Runner or King Quorn). Films already containing meat references (e.g. Chicken Run, or Jamon, Jamon) are ineligible.
Ross • 17th Aug 2009 • Living, Thinking • books, caribbean, films, gonzo, rum
On the way to work this morning I finished Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary. I enjoyed it hugely. The whole book is about the degenerate, alcoholic atmosphere among ex-pat American journalists in the Puerto Rico of the late 1950s, where every meal is rum, ice and hamburgers, and most days start at noon. Layered beneath this is a much deeper theme of hedonism giving way to a sense of more mature contentment, the aging process that prompts this, and the horror that this adaptation brings with it. To understand and describe this process at 22 was a remarkable achievement for Thompson.
I was disappointed to hear that the film of the novel, scheduled for release in 2010, does not include one of the central characters, Yeamon. The only way to remove Yeamon’s character is to partner the protagonist, Kemp, with Chenault, the wanton Conneticut, from the outset. This would remove much of the storyline, a lot of the simmering tensions and jealousy, and much of the point of the novel. Still, I hope the film works – but I’m glad I got through the novel first.
Ross • 5th Jun 2009 • Thinking • ayn rand, computer games, films, gaming, movies, philosophy
‘A Liberal Christian’ writes about Bioshock, The Incredibles and Ayn Rand:
“Bioshock” and “The Incredibles” show two visions of objectivism. “Bioshock” glorifies this vision before burning it to the ground, and quite rapidly at that. “The Incredibles,” on the other hand,” simply glorifies it. Yet regardless of what these works have to say, they remain some of my favorites of all time, and I hope they will be for you too.
More here.
Ross • 5th May 2009 • Thinking • films, libertarianism, political theory, politics, seasteading, society
I was very interested to come across this post from Will Wilkinson, on the ‘fear’ of democracy by libertarians, and the various responses to that ‘fear’. It reminded me of a number of things, particularly the strange but wonderful world of Patri Friedman and the Seasteading movement. And I noticed this:
“… I have questions about how well the Friedman plan can scale, as newcomers come to the settled frontier, and as pioneers raise children who do not share the consensus of the initial settlement. Sooner or later the problem of pluralism and moral disagreement will rear its head, and there are liberal and illiberal ways to respond.”
This, to me, is more confirmation of my long-held belief that the major problem of all forms of liberal political organisation inter-generational conflict: you may agree that the current set-up is fair (after all, you created it) but what if your children see it differently? In my view, this is a problem for libertarianism, but also for notions of meritocracy, social democracy, etc.
Those who know me well will know that I love to use films as analogies. The case study here would by M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village - a text-book case of an illiberal response to inter-generational conflict?
Ross • 26th Apr 2009 • Thinking • drama, films, movies
In the past week I’ve watched Venus and Transamerica. The first is very British, the second wholly American. Nevertheless, they’re remarkably similar in many ways. Odd relationships, taboo subjects, the search for self, moral ambiguity and social disgust are dealt with cleverly by both. Transamerica is the funnier and the more uplifting (although it’s no comedy) while Venus is probably a little more challenging. This is mainly because, when men get beyond retirement, it is rather unfairly assumed that they should not lust after young, beautiful women.
