During my recent trip to Pennsylvania, we explored Philadelphia for a couple of days. Philly is quite the city full of political and labour history. Definitely would go back to check out what I didn’t have time for. One thing I did get to do is visit the Museum of Art.
First thing I knew of and noticed was the constant flow of tourists who flocked to the statue of Rocky. Posing with Rocky Balboa was one of the primary attractions but not only did it seem that Rocky inspired people to pose, people ran up the stairs of the Museum of Art reenacting the scene in Rocky, and people would applaud and smile each time a group of people raced up the stairs. Some people were so enthused that they almost fell down the stairs!
Nevertheless, I find it interesting that Rocky inspires so many … for better or for worse … the character appeals to the nature of many Americans as well as those around the world who have watched the movie. I didn’t run up the stairs though … I just walked up and enjoyed the view at the very top of the stairs.
On the topic of inspiration … I’ve somehow found the inspiration to dive into linux and experiment with Ubuntu. I have to say I haven’t tinkered with command lines since DOS on PCs, but I am enjoying the opportunity to play around and explore the Linux environment which I have not yet done before. Hopefully my patience will still remain after a week …!
Now since we’re on the topic of inspiration, a neat little site called Should Do This has come up. Feel free to wander on over and suggest what Ehren should do
I just recently dished out a chunk of change on Samurai 7, an amazing re-telling of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai which was later made into the popular western movie The Magnificent Seven. I’ve only watched the first episode of Samurai 7 and I am hooked, by the way they introduce the farmers from the little village and a few samurai themselves. The plot I think is generally the same but I am sure that the 7 DVDs versus the 1 DVD original will provide a whole lot more depth to everything!
Aside from Samurai 7, my friend Dan passed on a link to a fantastic looking animated film called Tekkonkinkreet. I am really not sure what that means but the trailer reminds me of a blend of Japanese anime with some international animation styles that I have seen before at the Animation Show.
Check out the trailer below or at the site. The trailer website has better quality if you’re willing to wait a little longer for the file to load.
So I am in the middle of recovering from my hike yesterday. I said I would provide an opinion on the pack and the boots I got a couple weeks back and I’ve come to the conclusion that the pack is of an excellent make, although I think I am still getting to used to carrying such a huge bag. The boots protected my ankles well along the way down some steep slopes which is important for all hikers, especially for novice hikers whose ankles are not strengthened enough for the rougher trails. My only concern for the pack may be that I have to adjust the waist belt a little as I felt it wasn’t firm enough around the hip bone. As for the boots, they were really comfortable and most likely saved my feet from the 8 hours of hiking or so yesterday, but oddly enough I got bruises in different areas of my feet … I don’t know if this is due to the boot or just the way I walk. I will test everything out again next weekend.
The hiking party of seven people including myself had travelled to Battlefield Park in Stoney Creek, Ontario where we hiked a number of trails, only to find ourselves hiking through the suburban neighbourhoods of Hamilton! I have to say that concrete just makes the temperature feel that much higher. My friends and fellow hikers did enjoy a good laugh on my part since I was the only one carrying a huge pack, hiking shoes and all through the streets of suburbia. Nevertheless we survived. One of our stops was the bottom of the Devil’s Punchbowl which unfortunately did not have any water flowing down, not that you’d want to get near that water anyways. It was amusing to see all sorts of garbage (i.e. computer parts) lying around. Apparently people can’t seem to figure out the difference between a conservation area and their garbage can.
I thought this was pretty neat … despite it being in the wrong place
I will have more photographs posted soon enough. On another note about testing … I think I am going to try out Ubuntu on a test computer. I am impressed by its capabilities and relative user-friendliness. I don’t mind the command (DOS-like) interface as I grew up with it when my dad got us the first 386. It was a sad moment though as our Commodore Amiga 500 was no longer the main family computer.
Take a look at this video clip of what Ubuntu can do …
Actually the CBC was involved with Web 2.0 before web two point zero became “Web 2.0″ rage. Ahead of their time, the CBC show ZeD combined a very interactive website encouraging user-generated content with a regular night time television show.
Now ZeD is leaving us. Goodbye. Farewell. You’ve served the Canadian alternative media well. You provided a method for independent as well as up and coming artists to perform in a very different manner. What was alternative has become mainstream. Welcome to exposure.
Exposure is the result of the CBC working with Yahoo Canada to develop a uniquely Canadian “Web 2.0 community”. For that, I guess I can give kudos to the CBC. At the same time, I can’t help but feel that everyone is simply jumping on this so-called web 2.0 bandwagon. Exposure essentially is Canadian version of YouTube but with connections to the television network, oh and Yahoo. Keep an eye on it — it starts July 29th at 11pm.
I haven’t heard about Blizzard’s Starcraft series in a long time so I was very pleasantly surprised when Blizzard announced Starcraft 2 and I R Serious posted a a number of game trailers (from GameTrailers.com). I am definitely excited to hear that Blizzard is getting back to developing something other than stuff related to World of Warcraft. I don’t have time to play “pay to play” games so I am always interested in games that I can purchase and then play when I have time.
Blizzard used one of the best slogans to get the word out, one which really identifies with its core fans and market…
Yesterday a few friends and I went up to Waterloo’s Princess Cinemas to check out the Animation Show Year 3. I was definitely impressed with this year’s line up that Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt put together from around the world. There was only one animated short that was really weird even though the animation itself was quite impressive. Here are some clips of the first Animation Show:
Hopefully next year the Bloor Cinema will host the Animation Show for Torontonians to enjoy!
I stumbled upon this video while reading Steve Hardy’s blog and was impressed by Sir Ken Robinson’s presentation of the topic. It’s not a new topic and definitely nothing truly profound but Robinson’s presentation made some excellent key points. Especially the point of — “suddenly degrees aren’t worth anything”. He also pointed out the fact that we need to look at intelligence differently. One of the beliefs I gained on my own and have promoted is the fact that marks or grades don’t mean much. They don’t actually measure a person’s abilities and understanding effectively. Some of the most intelligent and innovative people I have met failed courses over and over and over again.
The main problem that we’re left with after Robinson’s talk is the fact that we all have dreams, and those dreams are oriented by wants and needs. These wants and needs revolve around money. Money is unfortunately a major motivation. I’m not saying that we all adhere monetary value to everything, but we are definitely adhering ourselves to a society of consumption that revolves around monetary value, as opposed to having the monetary factor as simply a piece of the fabric of society. Robinson spoke about the fact that we (the education systems) “have mined our minds in the way we strip mine the Earth of a particular commodity”. I believe everything or everyone is connected and the desires that we all have have been influenced by something that is related to money, which we require to fulfill those wants and needs. In order to do that, our education system has been built with these beliefs as the foundation. Why do we go to school? To get a better job. Why do we want a better job? To get better paid. Why do we want to be better paid? To survive. To enjoy life. To raise a family. To buy the things we want. etc.
From my opinion, there is no real solution to the whole problem as it requires radical re-thinking and throughout history, radical thinking has not necessarily worked unless it became a populist belief or there has been some sort of revolution. So the first step to take is to watch Sir Ken Robinson’s talk on creativity, and then the second step will be to decide how you want to live your life. ha! I’m not sounding grim! Well, we have the freedom to choose what paths we take and that’s exactly what we are exercising. We get to decide the future!
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