1. That when cyanobacteria arose 2 billion years ago and filled the atmosphere with oxygen which killed off most species and removed methane from the air so temperatures crashed and the entire planet was encased in ice, this didn’t quite extinguish all life but eventually led to the rise of eukaryotes that turn oxygen back into carbon dioxide and later those eukaryotes banded together into multicellular teams like you.
2. That there’s been a 93% decline in stomach cancer deaths over the past 100 years—from by far the biggest killer among cancers to one of the smaller ones—and mostly this was an accident, it happened because better food refrigeration reduced infections of H. pylori, a bacterium that wasn’t even identified until 1982 after most of the decline had already happened.
3. That the coefficient of thermal expansion for concrete is 1.1 × 10?5 / °C while the coefficient for carbon steel is 1.2 × 10?5 / °C which is close enough that steel-reinforced concrete buildings don’t crumble when the temperature changes although they won’t last for centuries like ancient Roman pure-concrete structures have.
4. That we evolved to communicate mostly via sound which can mostly be stored and transmitted using simple technologies like ink on paper or etching in wax, meaning we didn’t have to bootstrap, like, capture and transmission of 3-D spatiotemporal fragrance patterns whilst having no way to exchange ideas other than direct person-to-person contact.
5. That if I was a fish I would live in unending terror of getting eaten by a bigger fish, but presumably fish don’t feel that way because when evolution adapts a creature to an environment it would be counterproductive to wire them to experience life as torture, although it’s not clear this is true and I have no idea why or how evolution would set a hedonic baseline.
6. That 85% of people in the world have toilets and that number has been improving by 1.5% per year for the last two decades.
(more…)

It's not the figures lyin'. It's the liars figurin'.

This is the story of Jamal, a journalist who started out thick amidst the power hierarchy of Saudi Arabia, but grew critical of the regime. Eventually he fled the country, eventually he started getting a bit too opinionated for their liking... and was killed, chopped into pieces, and burned, and buried in a well. By the Saudi consulate.

By direct order of (crown prince) Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud most probably.

The documentary grows long-winding occasionally, with scenes of Jamal's former wife walking through their apartment, or another dissident walking through the street - looking at his cellphone. But when it gets into the real documentation business it enriches. It gets captivating. It gets controversial.

It makes me think a bit more highly of Jeff Bezos and a bit less of Trump, and I realize how easy it is for public opinion to be swayed by propaganda as it does. You don't even realize it until your own view drastically shifts. If you have no reason to doubt or scrutinize the things you're told.

I've lived in Saudi a few years myself.

I liked the country, I liked the climate and the friends I had there, but I most definitely did not have any involvement with the regime itself.

If you came across a car crash or similar you were warned to not help, as you were unclean. You lived in enclosed areas with other foreign workers, and though these areas had all amenities you could require - gym, pool, tennis courts - even a small local supermarket with imported goods, there was clearly a wall between you and the native population, and my experiences there not at all encompassing of society as a whole.

I wonder if I would've been out in the wild more there if I was older. Though then September 11 happened, and suddenly the tone towards foreigners grew darker.

This movie gave me a very different perspective on the place I lived though, and of how powerful they really are. They have oil, so everybody wants to play nice with them, of course, but their natural reserves aren't their only means of power.

I get the impression they're a regime you'd best not underestimate, and it seems MBS wants to give you that impression too.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

Indonesia. Poverty. Finances. Food. Youngest president yet. So much real footage it had me thinking maybe this was a documentary... but then we move on, and it clearly isn't. Had me thinking of 137 Shots (2021) for a moment too...

It's a good movie, though there's a lot of American jargon that doesn't really sound legit. There's a lot of 'asses'. They make asses out of themselves with that. They didn't half-ass anything really but I wish they'd just kept it Indonesian. For authenticity.

In all other regards it's such an awesome movie.

The action choreography's brutal but not perfect - feels like they fine-tuned it more with movies like for example The Night Comes For Us.

Indonesian dialog would've definitely made this a four. Close to five maybe. The script's basic, but the story's great. The emotional scenes have emotion, the battles are glorious, the special effects hmm... they're not the best either though. I wish they'd slimmed their vision down a bit but kept the grit too. Would've been top tier then.

Also why this name, Foxtrot Six? Seems unnecessarily Americanized too - not an innate Indonesian reference at all. It seems a step away from the main motive with the movie. Revolution and all. Piranhas. They are a team of six but that doesn't come across as the central part.

Feels a bit like a new Magnificent Seven inspired movie but one less, and a continent apart. One better?

There's that extra survivor at the end... lost track of the team it seems. I thought they all died along the way.

Great movie, though unfortunately feels like they bit off a bit more than they could chew; tried to internationalize in a way that removed some of the charm and authenticity it would've had did they just try to make a
good movie.

 rated 3.5/5: not bad at all

If only they'd let the girl live too! That would've been the perfect end.

It's a Nazi revenging tale of the new age, which I thought would be a bit like 'Where Eagles Dare', but instead it was... a little too short, and a little too ridiculing of some enemies - though Bach in particular definitely did uphold his reputation till the end.

Death comes quickly though, when you least expect it, and that is one of the things that made this movie unexpectedly GOOD.

The characters are good, the sceneries are great - I'm not entirely convinced it takes place in the fifties but I definitely am convinced of the locations - some of the scenes remind me of the WWII Sniper Elite games, for one. As do the stereotype Nazis. But I don't mind. That's what you'd expect - and hope for - in a movie like this anyway.

They have one bad-ass showdown at the end too, but for one thing. It's... short. It doesn't feel it truly carried itself towards a peak. He just suddenly (SPOILER AHEAD) has his vengeance and then he leaves, and that's it... you didn't have time to start feeling the tension, or despair, or anything. The movie I thought this would be like handled that bit so much better.

(SPOILER ABOVE.)

The special effects aren't perfect either, but I do like it. The characters are the right kind of intense and/or calm and collected - depending on the requirements of each scene, the femme fatale from Mosad's perfect, they have some fine old cars, and planes, and yes those sceneries again...

Some names you might recognize: Arnold Vosloo, Michael Ironside (I recognize this one in particular), Jackson Rathbone, Jorge Garcia, Bruce Davison, James Urbaniak, Michael Tourek, and our main two heroes Jacob Keohane and Adrienne McQueen. Not sure I've seen either of them before - though Jacob looks familiar - but they were great here.

It really was a good one. Close 'fo shizzle'.

 rated 3.5/5: not bad at all

(more…)

AKA Tenkû No shiro Rapyuta.

What a masterpiece this was.

Magical, romantic, dreamy but real, soldiers falling to their death in troves and masses... I wonder if Studio Ghibli are as real with their newer movies. Can't recall anyone dying in Spirited Away, for example, but this was another world, and another time.

It's like the rules of animation followed the rules of engagement in the world they portrayed herein. Inspired by Europe, and fairytales of a floating castle, and a boy and a girl of which one is a princess...

I loved this, really. The detail in animation is fantastic, but beyond that it just feels so good. The emotions are palpable and clear. The robot, the pirates, the others... they're all easy to read - but not dumb. Not simple in their desires or motives; in their wants and needs. They do have depth.

So does the villain, but maybe not the brash but brainless general who ultimately pays the ditto (ultimate that is) price.

I wonder what the inscription at the tomb read too, and they never even went inside... there's a sense of mystery they leave us with, aside from the dreams. With the craters and the abyss, too, that you see when you fly over the land at a particular point in the movie.

It's clear that people lead a hard life, and Pazu lives in what seems to be the ruins of an old fortress, but they lead a happy life too.

They never really focus on the history, on what was, only that there once was a time of castles, and now here we are now. Jump into their world and dream away, to what the future holds, and where the past might've carried them hundreds of years before...

I haven't seen all the Ghibli movies, but even if I did I think this one might be my favorite.

There's something real about it that I'm not sure the newer ones still have, but of course there's a captivating element of timelessness and myth too.

It's a children's tale, but I'm not sure I'd have appreciated it half as much
when I actually was a child.

 rated 5/5: friggin awesome