Grikmeer's Grotto

Bad science hurts me...

2010-01-12T10:38:04Z

watervole may be interested in this. As would sabremeister

Some woman in the U.S. discounting Autism research by scientists. Drives me crazy; especially as I've just found out that both of my parents have been told by my old teachers that I show signs of having Asperger's Syndrome. They never told me. They never bloody well told me. I've spent the best part of my life thinking that it's entirely my fault that I have trouble dealing with people so much. Obviously having something like that isn't a "get-out-of-jail-free, I'm-Aspergic-I-can't-help-it card" but it would have been nice for them to say: "There's a possibility that you have this illness, this is how we're going to deal with it together" instead of hiding it from me for nearly 8 years...

Yeah, little annoyed about that.
Here's the article:
http://news.discovery.com/human/jenny-mccarthy-dismisses-pediatrics-study-on-autism.html

Curious

2010-01-10T08:17:28Z

I've been watching a lot of lesbian films over the past couple of days. Not in any erotic way, but for the stories, for the portrayal and - given that I'm on a film course - for essay material. The films I've watched are, in order

> Imagine Me & You
> Saving Face
> But I'm a Cheerleader
> Lost and Delirious

I've also got When Night is Falling, but I've seen that one before now.

It's fascinating from a film-making point of view and storywise. Imagine Me & You plays out like a stereotypical mainstream romcom - a high quality one (with the added bonus of no Hugh Grant) and the fact that the two lovers are gay women isn't especially broached upon. There is only one character who really acts in a homophobic manner and even that is subdued.
Saving Face avoids any of these issues other than closetting until the end, as it's based in a family group of Chinese Americans with a highly traditional outlook. Obviously there is debate when she finally comes out to the family but the gay issues are balanced by another character who's pregnant out of wedlock.
Both of these ones had things in common which were interesting and unexpected, from someone who's technically not part of these cultures, my mother's sexuality and my gender identity aside, I'm (as someone on here put it) quite naïve about such matters. Things like the out lesbians being the ones in the feminine jobs, which is the opposite to how I would have expected such things to be shown (knowing how stereotypes are used so often in film)

The other two were strikingly different.

But I'm a Cheerleader was an extremely silly romcom. It's set in one of those ridiculous "True Directions" camps in America, designed to cure homosexuals and relies heavily on stereotype: the boys there could not be camper if they had Julian Clary's wardrobe. It's got the schmaltzy happy ending that a romcom requires but it does have a valid point to make underneath the silliness.

The hardest hitting though was definitely Lost and Delirious, a Canadian independent film. It was literally painful in the emotions it pulled out of me. It has one of the same co-stars as Imagine Me & You, Piper Perabo (Who was also in The Prestige, as Hugh Jackman's wife who died at the beginning) and when the film was over I had to put the ending of IM&Y on just to calm my frayed nerves. It's not easy watching but it's definitely worth watching.

Maybe because I'm a cynic, but talking about this normally would result in people saying I'm only watching it for the hot girls kissing, but it really isn't. Imagine Me & You and But I'm a Cheerleader don't have any nudity in them; the former doesn't need to cheapen the story like that and the latter is dealing with under-age characters so avoids it (although there is a lot of simulated sexual behaviour for comic effect). Saving face has one or two scenes with the main couple in bed together, but it doesn't come across as titillation, more natural for the scene, emphasised by the fact that they get interrupted by the out girl's mother on the answer-phone. Lost and Delirious had the greatest number of nude scenes, but again, it was used more stylistically to represent the closeness between the characters. As they drift apart or come back together the clothes go on or come off, it's a form of semiotics.
While all the girls are undeniably attractive (especially in Lost and Delirious) watching the films is much more about the relationships between the characters than the sex-value of their bodies. This is emphasised by the fact that they are (with the exception of But I'm a Cheerleader) played by exceptional actresses, creating a very convincing story.

I'd recommend all four films to anyone. But I'm a Cheerleader is probably the least universal... Least, I'd say so.

This concludes another "Rob-has-stayed-up-for-too-long-and-just-wants-to-type LJ-Update"

Advice

2010-01-07T21:53:26Z

Regarding the Ministry of Defence: the coat of armsy thing they have. Is it copyrighted? I'm curious, because I'd like to use it for a uni piece of film...

I love animals!

2009-12-15T04:32:27Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8408233.stm Octopodes using coconut shells as personal protection (featuring an adorable video of how they move with them)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8029933.stm Tool-using crow

Direction dread and irate with industries

2009-11-14T19:02:37Z

Heard the news? Dollhouse has been cancelled.

Okay, FOX renewed it for a second season despite the poor ratings out of fear of fan complaints (trying to avoid what happened with Firefly) but now that seems like a reach around. The biggest bloody problem is that the show was just starting to get good: the first series was a little lacking but the first four eps of this new series (and the unaired 13th episode of Season 1) have been building on it really well.

It's really starting to piss me off that all the (American) shows I love (except House) get cancelled. Want to know what the common factor is? Firefly, Crusade, Dollhouse, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, hell even B5 suffered almost irreparable damage, thankfully it pulled through even if season 5 wasn't quite as high quality as 1-4.
Clearly the common feature is the Sci-fi aspect. I get it, I'm a nerd, sci-fi isn't mainstream enough for television series but that's a difficult premise for me considering it's where I would like to be one day. I'm starting to lose all faith in my choice to go into television making considering that my ultimate goal was to make sci-fi and/or fantasy television series.
I can't even take comfort from Doctor Who; that's powered by the BBC which is restricted from having too many feelers into the mainstream which, small audience or no, science fiction shows are.

The relentless capitalism of the industries I've considered going into is wearing. It it doesn't make money, you don't make it. Crush everyone into a mundane category and mass-produce the same worthless tripe because it's popular. Take a look at all the shows that come across as a poor reflection of Friends, with whatever gimmick they happen to have to make them different. 2-and-a-half Men, Will and Grace. But this is all we seem to get. I recently started watching Bones and, while I like David Boreanaz and Stephen Fry's guest appearances are incredibly welcome, it just comes across as a lesser House with a slightly varied area of focus. (although the stereotypical compression of the atheist main character is equally frustrating)

One of the things I've been taught in my seminars since I came to this uni? "Don't be afraid of stereotypes." While I can see the advantage of a stereotype to just hammer out a character when you need it, it's really depressing because that's all the world seems to watch these days. Mainstream cinema is just as bad.

Seriously now, I'm completely unsure I want to even bother any more. This industry is evidently no place for someone like me. I can't see the good in the capitalist structure the rest of the world seems intent on keeping...
Can anyone tell me why I should bother with it?

A Big Thank You to Entorien and Watervole

2009-10-03T20:28:25Z

For your advice with cooking. I took both of your advice and blended it with what I was doing already, putting a can of tomatoes in with the gravy (I already had a whole tub, seemed a pity to waste it) really brought out the flavour of the chicken and the dumplings are delicious. So far the stew has been tried by two people (other than me), both of whom have been exceedingly complimentary. I feel that some of those compliments belong to you two, so thank you very much for your advice :)

Requesting cooking assistance

2009-09-27T11:24:43Z

I wish to construct my house a stew. I know the basics, a lot of gravy, chop up the meat, potatoes (boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stoo) carrots and swede in a big saucepan and you have to slow cook it on the hob.

What I don't know is how long you have to slow cook it for and I'm not sure how to make dumplings (and you can't have a stew without dumplings)

Anyone's advice would be much appreciated :)

grikmeer @ 2009-09-23T18:18:00

2009-09-23T17:18:57Z

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/22/kirk-camerons-origin-of-s_n_294349.html

---
Kirk Cameron, best known for his role in the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains, now spends much of his time advocating for far-right Christian evangelical causes.
In a video posted recently to YouTube, Cameron lays out a plan to subvert 'Darwin Day' on November 22, 2009 -- a date marking the 150th anniversary of the publishing of Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species." Cameron says that he and like-minded activists plan to deliver 50,000 copies of an altered version of Darwin's book to students at dozens of U.S. universities.
Cameron explains that this "very special" edition of the "Origin of Species" will include an introduction explaining "Adolf Hitler's undeniable connection" to the theory of evolution, and highlighting "Darwin's racism" and "his disdain for women." Cameron's edition also exposes the "many hoaxes" of evolutionary theory, while presenting a "balanced view of Creationism."

---

That was borrowed from q99
I added my own video to the mix www.youtube.com/watch

To all friends back down south

2009-09-20T21:51:47Z

Have arrived in York. Mixed feelings so far, likely coloured adversely by the fact that I am exhausted. The most prominent problem is that the internet is rather difficult to access.

I had been planning to go to a particular Student Digs where the network was hard-wired but, as all will know, that's all reliant on where I'm put an I ended up in a wireless area. Now this shouldn't be a problem, my beautiful mac is Wireless capable and I was on a wireless network at home. The trouble is that it is, for some reason, really difficult to connect to. I've done everything they've told me to and I have limited connectivity. Okay, for the most part the main internet works. But all messengers bar AIM don't, twitter doesn't (website or widget) GoogleMail doesn't connect (although it did at first) my weather widget doesn't and last|fm's scrobbler doesn't.

It's frustrating at the moment, so I'm going to go to sleep... Night all.

If there's any advice someone feels they can give me, gratitude will be yours!

Edit: Kicking the proxy settings has fixed some of the problems: iTunes, Widgets and last|FM now work. Thunderbird and online Googlemail and non-AIM messengers still refuse to capitulate to my whims...
Oddly Googletalk and Google itself function...

grikmeer @ 2009-09-17T01:12:00

2009-09-17T00:13:37Z

I Love My Friends!

Thanks for one last WFRP before I go & of course for the jacket. Words still fail me

Venting time...

2009-09-07T19:39:27Z

My Granny is currently visiting from Ireland (or FLorida, I'm not quite sure where she's living at the moment) with her sister and, as is custom, the family gets together for a meal. This happened last night and I was there with my mum, brother (plus his girlfriend) my auntie Karen (the only one of Granny's children other than my mum who lives in England) and her children, third husband and his mother.

Those who know me well may well observe that my sense of humour is rather acerbic, occasionally bordering aggressive. As a response to something that happened I jokingly referred to my mum as a cheapskate (mum got the joke, by the way) and Karen flipped out at me, scolding and cajoling me and saying that "if one of my children called me a cheapskate they'd get a boot up their arse" [possible misquote, I can't remember the exact phrase, but it's close]

I've only just figured out what I wanted to say in response (stupid slow wit) and I want to say it somewhere just for some catharsis.

Karen, please be quiet. Firstly, it's not your place to tell me off for something like that, you are not my mother, for which I am eternally grateful. If my mum felt that what I said was inappropriate then she would have told me, in no uncertain terms.
Secondly, you labour under the misapprehension that I have any respect for you as a person or a moral guardian, both positions you vacated as I've watched you - while I've grown up, you plainly haven't. You are tyrannically self-centred and have an unrealistic expectation that people fall under your authoritarian sway. Consequently I didn't come here today to see you; I came to see my Granny, to meet her sister and to see my cousins.
Lastly and least importantly you are one of the single most annoying people it has ever been my misfortune to encounter.

After this I would have almost certainly have had to leave the meal, but it would have calmed me down.

In case you can't tell, I've had issues with this particular aunt for a long time. This makes me feel a bit better...

AHHHH!

2009-08-27T14:32:06Z

http://drownyourself.com/?p=680

Seriously! WAAAAH!

grikmeer @ 2009-08-25T20:52:00

2009-08-25T19:56:19Z

And look, Britain! Look! They're calling it Marriage.

I reiterate my point. Equality. Don't capitulate to the fucking religions

Sudoku

2009-08-24T23:05:26Z

Just completed a sudoku in 7:01. Major improvement on my twelve minute average.

grikmeer @ 2009-08-20T15:43:00

2009-08-20T14:44:02Z

Loneliness bites.

In retrospect...

2009-08-18T18:14:45Z

I should have taken up the cello when I was younger.
I find it so appealing in the music I like. It's most noticable in scores: Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers both used cellos simply sublimely. The main riff from Arrival To Earth in Transformers is incredible, it sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it...

grikmeer @ 2009-08-14T17:55:00

2009-08-14T17:23:31Z

Sometimes I wish my brother would dump his girlfriend. She's a miserable little cow who spends most of their time together getting really upset because one of his friends is a girl who she is convinced Miles is secretly in love with and arguing with him about this and every other pissing little thing. He then gets annoyed with us and, needless to say, mutual anger ensues.

I confronted him about this earlier and his response was "Now you know how I felt"
I admit, I was an annoying, sometimes violent, bastard when I was younger and Miles got the worst of it. I've apologised for that so many times and tried to make up for it. But apparently my past behaviour justifies his behaviour now.
He's always got extremely angry at any suggestion that he's like me and now he's doing all the things I used to do. I mention this to him and he says "I'm nothing like you."

No.. Actually, he's right. He's worse. He has anger issues, just two weeks ago he punched through a (Brand new - he'd been waiting to have his old one replaced for ages) door because I asked him to load the dishwasher (which I'd been asking him to do the whole week) He, unlike myself, refuses to acknowledge he even has a problem, whereas I went to several methods for anger management.
I occasionally got into punch-ups with him. He's done this and he threw a knife at my back! Because I said something which upset him. Apparently this still isn't as bad as me because, get this, I used to self-harm.

Yes, self-harming is apparently worse than hurling a weapon at your brother hard enough to cut skin through two layers of clothing. Because he's my mum's favourite son though, I got blamed. I shouldn't have annoyed him...

I keep telling myself "only 6 weeks 'til uni then you don't have to see him again, ever if that suits you" but I've been holding in everything I feel for too long. Even by letting it out in small bursts it's building up. In fact that makes it worse, because he's possessed of an incredibly quick wit, whereas I need time to think and build my points. When we have an argument he'll come up with something that'll stump me at that moment - despite the fact that I'm able to come up with a more valid rebuttal in a couple of minutes, this will make him act incredibly smug as if he'd won an argument and if I try to come back to the point later he says as much.

I just need some way to get through this. I have no idea.

They're remaking The Prisoner?!

2009-08-01T05:37:00Z

With Ian McKellen as Number 2!?

And they still have a giant white blob?!

I've never seen the original (this will have to change before this comes out in November) but I've heard of it and its referenced enough in pop culture that everything in there was familiar. I defer to those who have seen the original as to whether this looks any good. They've changed Number 6 into a Yank, a New Yorker to be specific.

AWESOME!!

2009-07-31T02:04:05Z

The Mitch Benn video in my last post?

Mitch Benn has not only seen it but he's also Tweeted about it. I have a screenshot to prove it

Words cannot equate my joy right now...

Film & Music Industry

2009-07-30T10:33:15Z

Murphy-Damn the pair of them!

The film industry doesn't simultaneously release special versions (or indeed any versions) of DVDs in England at the same time as other countries. The DVDs were only a week later, which isn't so bad. But the staff at HMV had no idea when the extended one was being released in England and, according to precedent, it could be up to two years. You can't really buy them from other countries because they're different regions and usually aligned slightly differently (NTSC and PAL etc.) and, surprise, surprise, the Film industry placed those things in effect to prevent people from buying fro, abroad.

And they complain when people download them... They're practically telling us to...

And the Music industry has pulled one of my music videos from YouTube. It uses a song that they own (surely it should belong to the artist?) so they completely disabled it. First of all; I'm sure tribute and parody come under a branch of US Law called Fair Use and this was a tribute to the film and to the song. Secondly; They don't lose money from it and get extra exposure (okay, it was Simon and Garfunkel, they don't really need much exposure, they're worldwide legends) When did the music industry get so paranoid...

Ah well, considering I'm of the belief that the music industry is currently a stagnant, bloated dinosaur that needs to be forcibly killed and rebuilt with much stronger rules and more intelligent policy drafters, why am I surprised?

Still, one of my videos wasn't butchered. Here you go
Mitch Benn's 'Richard Dawkins' from the album 'Sing Like An Angel'
Using clips from the Richard Dawkins Documentaries 'Root of All Evil' and 'The Enemies of Reason'

Atheism: Reality is Awesome

'Richard Dawkins' (song) ©2008 IMWP
'Root of All Evil' © IWC Media Limited MMVI
'The Enemies of Reason' © IWC Media Limited MMVII

Tonight...

2009-07-28T00:41:42Z

A Comedian died in New York.

Somebody out there knows why... Somebody knows...

All the whores and politicians will look upwards and shout "Save Us!"... and I'll whisper: "No."

In case you can't tell, Watchmen came out on DVD today.
It remains awesome. I hope they release an extended edition...

In the meantime, I may have to dig out my Rorschach mask again...

I wanna be...

2009-07-22T11:16:51Z

Superion!

2009-07-21T22:51:03Z

Miles works at Sainsbury's. Sainsbury's sells Transformers. We both chipped in and bought a Superion. Yes. That's the Autobot's first combiner, which the Aerialbots make up.

It's Revenge of the Fallen era, not a classic remake (which is odd because Superion certainly wasn't in that film) so I am a little disappointed that Silverbolt isn't still a Concorde with vertigo. But they look okay, ignoring weapons kibble which looks a tad ridiculous. Now, as I know someone here is already aware of the state of current Transformer instruction sheets - said someone is a wonderful someone who bought me two of my favourite Transformers as presents (and I will find a way to pay you back in kind one day) Ravage and Grimlock - I shall give only a brief overview:

They're awful. The instructions for both Transformers I've recently acquired were unclear, baffling and fundamentally flawed. The sheets are small, as are the drawings, so you cannot tell what little bit is meant to go where. Added to this is the fact that these days Transformers are significantly more difficult that when I was younger (I have an Original Optimus Prime - EASY)

EACH OF THE FIVE AERIALBOTS IS OF GRIMLOCK-ESQUE DIFFICULTY. Not as hard as Ravage who is singularly difficult - he's perfect so he gets let off - but still a problem. I just spent about 30 minutes trying to do Silverbolt alone. There's still Fireflight, Air-Raid, Skydive and Airazor. Then they have to combine to make Superion.

This is likely to tax our brains to dangerous levels. My mind may well be melted.
So... Can I use Superion as a Necron?

Revenge of the Fallen

2009-07-02T10:42:40Z

Y'know, I'm ashamed of my fandom. I only have one which I love enough to describe it as "my fandom" and it's Transformers. I adored the original series right up to the Headmasters. I was never keen on the stuff that came out of Japan, it's just not my cup of tea and I cannot stand anime style animation. Beast Wars I actually missed which I was upset by, but the few episodes I saw seemed to be pretty good and entorien has told me a lot about it which I liked the sound of.

So when the first new movie came out, I naturally went along to see it (on the first day, second showing) and I loved it. There were flaws, yes, of course there were, but I think it worked well.

When Revenge of the Fallen came out I rushed out and saw it (on the first day, second showing) and, while it took me a second viewing, I did love it. The flaws were more noticable this time around, the crudity had gone up and there were a few choices which I would not have made were I directing the film. So it fills me with shame that half of the fandom is going so crazy about this film, saying it's the worst thing since World War II (hyperbole only marginally mine)

Dudes and dudettes, we're talking about two films based on 20-minute long adverts for a toy range. Transformers: The Movie killed off loved characters in a thinly veiled attempt to introduce the new toy line. It's not high literature, so why are we taking it as seriously as fans of the Lord
of the Rings. LotR is a work of high literature (or at least it tries to be) so there is a degree where it should not change. Continuity errors are what Transformers is built on. Yes, I didn't like that they focused on Skids & Mudflap more than Sideswipe and Arcee; yes, I couldn't stand Devestator's 'scrotum' and the constant use of "sexy girl's body, it's art" was wearing, even if it was only Megan Fox once in this one. But this is completely understandable as Transformers is aimed at kids. It's not for us, we should be happy that Michael Bay condescended enough to get Peter Cullen and Frank Welker on board as a nod to the old fans. We can enjoy it still, just ignore the bits that you don't like. I think that there were plenty of things for a Transformers fan to enjoy in it, not least the return of RAVAGE AND SOUNDWAVE, both done well!

I hate to say this, when referring to Transformers it seems weird to say, but grow up fandom. It's not ever going to be perfect. If I made my perfect Transformers movie, there's a lot of the fandom who'd hate it. "Why didn't I bring in something from the Unicron trilogy" etc. If another member of the fandom made it, there'd definitely be something I hated. Michael Bay never was a Transformers fan, so we should be really glad that it turned out as well as it did.

Now, I'm going to continue crying in the corner. entorien knows why ;)

Interesting fact from a very sad source

2009-06-26T17:14:29Z

Blue whales can hybridise with Fin whales

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gueKwcoSj7I&feature=channel