Copenhagen, Shmocenhagen. What did you expect? The cabal of global psychopath alpha males to act with empathy?
Still alive; still working on The Film. 6 scenes remain, and tweaks on about 50. The tweaks won't take long, so all should be done before the New Year (barring any last minute additions). I'll be working through Xmas. Then, post production and audio - still looking at a March release.
I loved the mid 90s computer game "Duke Nukem 3D". I even went so far as to build a model of the Glendale animation studio that I worked in, right down to the 7-11 across the street. After work, my co-workers and I would run around the virtual studio, shooting the shit out of one another. God, that was more fun than you can imagine. It was the sort of thing that might get you arrested today - but for the fact that the owners of the studio played it with us. Cool cats - and sane, as opposed to the neurotic chickenshits that seem to dominate society today. It's a freaky experience, spending 3 hours in a 3D replica of your physical environment, to then leave the sim and emerge into the reality that you've just copied. It took me about 10 minutes to "depressurise" after one of the long sessions. It's easy to see how sims can fool the human brain - and makes me wonder about the power of truly sophisticated ones.
Though I avoid computer games now (a recovering addict) - I was intrigued by the astonishing tale of the sequel, "Duke Nukem Forever". The programmers had too much money and power - a luxury which allowed them to violate every rule in the book. Begun shortly after the astonishing success of "Duke Nukem 3D", DNF has become the most spectacular example of "Vapourware" - a game that will never see the light of day, even after ~14 years of work. I can't help but think of these guys as a microcosm for the human species, should we ever have the misfortune to discover a limitless source of energy - the end consequence would be self indulgent insanity of the kind described in this article.
History is littered with similar examples: Charles Babbage, who could have created a computer from brass in the mid 19th century (and change the course of history out of all recognition) - but instead of settling on one design that worked, built samples of hypothetical prototypes of machines that would never exist. Richard Williams (animator of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit") who spent 29 years working on his magnum opus "The Thief and the Cobbler", finally going into debt to finish it, but trapped in a deranged cycle of reanimating finished scenes - finally having the movie taken away by the completion bond company (Disney), at which point it was mutilated beyond recognition.
Which transitions nicely into this 70 minute video review of "The Phantom Menace" - George Lucas being yet another example of what happens when one man gets too much wealth and power for his own good:
I've watched all 70 minutes of this - twice - it's a very funny, well written dissection of everything that's wrong (and right) with the old Star Wars films, vs. the new ones. If you have the time, check out the guy's reviews of the TNG Star Trek films - just as perceptive.
In one of those synchronicities so beloved by Robert Anton Wilson - after posting the above, I read the following about "Hagbard's Law", which goes some way to explaining the awful fate of Duke Nukem Forever, Richard Williams, and Charles Babbage: "Hagbard's Law":
Coined by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson in their tremendous satire Illuminatus!, Hagbard’s Law states that information can only be communicated between equals, since in a hierarchy, those in inferior positions face very strong incentives to tell their superiors what the superiors want to hear rather than ‘fessing up to the truth. The more levels of hierarchy between the people who gather information and the ones who make decisions, the more communication tends to be blocked by Hagbard’s Law; in today’s governments and corporations, the disconnect between the reality visible on the ground and the numbers viewed from the top of the pyramid is as often as not total.
Now, it's sad, though not really tragic if a computer game, or a mechanical computer, or a cartoon fall into the historical shithole. However, Hagbard's law is now working on a global scale like never before - and goes a long way to explaining the consensus trance that our glorious "leaders" inhabit.
A leading rabbi accused Pope Benedict XVI of "insensitivity" towards Jews yesterday after the head of the Catholic Church moved his controversial World War II-era predecessor Pope Pius XII a step closer to sainthood.
Pius XII, who served from 1939 to 1958, is regarded by conservative Catholics as one of the greatest of modern popes. But his papacy was also controversial because of his failure to make any protest as millions of Jews were taken to Nazi gas chambers. His supporters claim that silence was necessary for the protection of Catholics around Europe. But the Vatican has infuriated critics by failing to open secret archives relating to his papacy before moving him closer to canonisation.
HA! LED street lights fail to melt snow. A nice parable on the false economies inherent in some forms of "conservation". There are many - this is just one that's particularly funny. Now, to install HEATERS to melt the snow on the street lights. How much ENERGY, perchance, will they consume?
Some lego links:
TO think that I was scared that my Peak Oil film (begun in 2005) would arrive too late to educate people. No worries! Kunstler:
I sat in a bar Friday evening with a financial reporter from a national newspaper, trying to explain the peak oil situation and what it implied for our economy. He had never heard it before. The relationship between energy resources and massive debt was new to him. (It also came up in conversation that he could not tell me what the Monroe Doctrine was about, despite a history degree from Yale.) There you have a nice snapshot of the mainstream media in this land.
OK, one more. Jared Diamond (author of "Collapse") is a corporate WHORE.
On December 6th the New York Times published an outrageous op-ed piece by corporate cheerleader Jared Diamond, who states, “I’ve discovered that while some businesses are indeed as destructive as many suspect, others are among the world’s strongest positive forces for environmental sustainability.” The examples he provides? Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola and Chevron.
His title asks, “Will Big Business Save the Earth?” That’s not a difficult question to answer: No. No, big business will not save the Earth. Instead of being honest, though, Diamond, answers the question in the affirmative and subjects us to a poorly-argued, mind-warping, illogical and denial-drenched apology for some of the most destructive corporations that curse our planet with their existence.
WTF is Jared doing, acting a corporate pimp? Hmm..........
Mainstream liberal environmentalist groups lack credibility among real environmentalists for many reasons, one of which is the presence of corporate executives on their boards, and another of which is the huge amounts of money that they accept from corporations. The World Wildlife Fund, for example, landed a $3 million contract with Chevron in the early 1990s to implement an “Integrated Conservation and Development Project” in Papua New Guinea, where Chevron’s oil drilling was vehemently resisted by the affected indigenous people. (See “Shilling for Chevron: Jared Diamond Greenwasher”).
Diamond happens to serve on the WWF board. I'm sure it's purely by coincidence that he praises Chevron’s efforts to improve the environment in his book “Collapse,” and again in this NYT op-ed piece. I can imaging him hanging out with his fellow board members, business execs who complain of being misunderstood while sending him meaningful glances brimming with unspoken promises of millions of dollars in donations. I can imagine him deciding, “Hey, these guys aren’t so bad! I’m going to convince the American people to give them some love, damn it!”
How to put this diplomatically? FUCK YOU JARED. I HOPE YOU GET CANCER FOR CHRISTMAS.
For the 10 people who still read this site: I've been having a great time (the best in 21 years in animation) working on the film. If I haven't replied to emails, that's why - I have an old habit of going into a trance when a project takes over - which is the case now. I began working on this project in 2004/5, though began in earnest only in 2007. As you can imagine, it's essential to get this thing finished before my eyesight fails.
I've incorporated many revisions (by external experts), and have secured the services of an A-list Hollywood composer/conductor. I kid you not. It's been a great stroke of luck. There's a chance that we might be able to record the score with live musicians in LA in February next year. If not, I'll settle for a synth - live musicians would be gravy. Anyhow, that accounts for the sporadic updates - which will continue to be the case until I finish the animation. The final run-time will be 30 minutes...and it's looking fantastic already.
Aging is shrinking: cells wink out and you’re literally a smaller person than you were. You’re a walking brownout. Dead muscle, never to be replaced, is squeezed through your increasingly inefficient anus. In a typical Darwinian joke, the dead cells are processed into hard, unfriendly turds which sandpaper the anus until you grow a little grape-cluster of hemorrhoids. Nature is efficient, and never smacks you once when it can whack you twice.
Interesting about the 'rebranding' of fish species: Aquapalypse Now
s the bounty of coastal waters dropped, fisheries moved further offshore, to deeper waters. And, finally, as the larger fish began to disappear, boats began to catch fish that were smaller and uglier--fish never before considered fit for human consumption. Many were renamed so that they could be marketed: The suspicious slimehead became the delicious orange roughy, while the worrisome Patagonian toothfish became the wholesome Chilean seabass. Others, like the homely hoki, were cut up so they could be sold sight-unseen as fish sticks and filets in fast-food restaurants and the frozen-food aisle.
The scheme was carried out by nothing less than a fishing-industrial complex--an alliance of corporate fishing fleets, lobbyists, parliamentary representatives, and fisheries economists. By hiding behind the romantic image of the small-scale, independent fisherman, they secured political influence and government subsidies far in excess of what would be expected, given their minuscule contribution to the GDP of advanced economies--in the United States, even less than that of the hair salon industry.
"As yet, nobody can say with any certainty whether we have in fact escaped the prospect of a global economic collapse," said the 68-page report, headed by asset chief Daniel Fermon. It is an exploration of the dangers, not a forecast.
Under the French bank's "Bear Case" scenario (the gloomiest of three possible outcomes), the dollar would slide further and global equities would retest the March lows. Property prices would tumble again. Oil would fall back to $50 in 2010.
Unfortunately, we have an economic system and national philosophy based on the idea of every man getting rich. Impossible, unsustainable and bound for disaster from the start. Mankind's entire idea of what constitutes an economy is about to come into question at some point soon. Not just in America, but all the other (over) developed nations too. We cannot manufacture our way out of it, or spend or invest pour way out of it, through a free market "green economy." That's what got us here in the first place. Superheated spending to pump up a malignant economic system that devoured the earth.
The world’s container ports industry is facing a sharp reversal in its fortunes as the sector’s first ever year-on-year fall in volumes forces an abrupt change from breakneck expansion to retrenchment...
London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants forecasts a year-on-year fall of 10.3 per cent in containers moved this year, compared with 4.6 per cent growth in 1982, the previous worst year since 1956, when container shipping started.
"Every day the government says that food prices are coming down," he said. "Every day we are told that things are getting better thanks to the cooperation of the Soviet Union. But it is not true. Do you realise that the government cannot even control the roads? Fuck them. They only hold on to the cities." The "mujahedin" infested Helmand province and crossed and recrossed the Pakistani border, just as they do today. A Soviet Mig fighter-bomber even crossed the frontier in early 1980 to attack the guerrillas. The Pakistani government – and the United States, of course – condemned this as a flagrant breach of Pakistan's sovereignty. Well, tell that to the young Americans who control the unmanned Predators so often crossing the border today to attack the guerrillas.
Educated urban liberals never seem to grasp that most Americans no longer have access to the levers of self-determination. But then, I never expect the bourgeoisie to understand the legions of industrial serfs outside the gates. Nor do they much bother to try. After all, they've "got theirs." Education, safe working conditions, negotiable wages, access to real culture if they choose, progeny who will more or less continue their class patterns, even if on a somewhat lesser scale. When they look around their affinity groups and communities, they see only people like themselves. "Naw, we're not elites," they conclude.
But the sheer gravitational pull of 60 million people circling the drain is starting to draw these elites who do not know they are elites toward the drainpipe. So now we are seeing academic papers with titles such as "Does a white American underclass really exist?" Lemme see now, are there any clues? Well, about 49.1 million people, most of them white, went without food at various times in 2008 (USDA). This is called "food insecurity" in government and academic circles. I suppose the 3.1 million folks sleeping under bridges, in cars, in shelters and cardboard boxes are experiencing "housing insecurity." This includes the 1.4 million homeless children attending our public schools. I suggest they start by asking these people if there is a white underclass in America. You know, get it straight from the horse's mouth. You don't know if you don't ask. I mean, hell, these people might all be just hobo-ing for a lark!
Led by Samar Khatiwala, an oceanographer at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, a team of researchers reconstructed the amount of carbon that has been annually absorbed by the oceans since 1765 — around the time when people began putting large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. "Over time, it seems, the oceans are becoming less efficient at taking up man-made carbon," says Khatiwala. "That's concerning over the long term."
Ah - long term. So I'll be dead by the time it's a problem. Whew.
According to a study by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, every one of the face paints that they tested contained lead, and many of them also contained other heavy metals.
In the face paint study, all ten of the children’s face paints that were tested contained some lead. Lead contaminates cosmetics when low-quality ingredients are used to manufacture the cosmetics. In addition to lead, four of the paints contained nickel, two contained cobalt, and five contained chromium. One of the paints contained 120 ppm of chromium, while the industry-recommended standard limit is 5 ppm.
Poison the children, poison the albatross. It's all profit.
