12 December 2005, lunch time
I watched The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe last night with Dave. It is very much a children’s movie. I suppose that shouldn’t come as a surprise as the movie is based on the children’s books by C.S. Lewis. The movie looks really good. The visual effects people have done a good job bringing the more fantastic elements of the story to life. Tilda Swinton does a really good job playing the evil White Witch; the children do a good enough job playing their respective parts. Beyond that, I’m not sure the movie is worth watching if you aren’t already a fan of the books. I think the movie will be appealing to children regardless, but for adults I am not so sure. I think Dave and I both found the story a bit too childish, but then it’s a children’s story so it’s hardly fair to criticize.
The official The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe web site.
[4] Movies
12 December 2005, lunch time
I will write a proper post about the Referrer Filter Pepper shortly. Till then, briefly, the Referrer Filter Pepper is a plugin for the web statistics package Mint. This plugin is a more generic version of the Google Images Pepper I wrote for Mint 1.14.
Download the referrer filter pepper: funkaoshi-referrer-filter-pepper.zip
View the forum topic in the Mint Forum: [New Pepper] Referrer Filter
Code | Weblogs
10 December 2005, lunch time
I have two Nintendo DS games you can play online, Animal Crossing: Wild World and Mariokart DS. Mariokart will let you play with anyone you please online, but Animal Crossing limits you to people you tell it are your friends. This is done by entering your friend’s friend code; keep in mind that your “friend” may be a complete stranger you met on the internet. Nintendo offers no means of exchanging friend codes, so it has to be done through other channels—for example, Chris and I exchanged codes when I first mentioned I owned Animal Crossing. The problem is that this really isn’t enough to start playing with your friend; you also need to coordinate when you are playing your game for the friend codes to be of any use. If I log into the Nintendo WiFi Connection to challenge my friend online to a game of Mariokart, he also needs to be online. The only way I can determine he is online is to either: try and challenge him and see if I get a response, or communicate with him through some other channel and tell him to log on to the WFC as well. I’ve seen people posting their friend codes online all over the place, but this is really only solves half the problem of playing with your friends online. You need a means of communicating with all your friends that you are playing online. Since in many cases your “friends” are in fact random people you are meeting on the internet, you may not have their telephone numbers, email addresses, or IM names. Communicating when you are online in a simple manner is just as important as exchanging friend codes; I will need think about how to do that more.
[5] Video Games | Nintendo DS
8 December 2005, the wee hours
Rambot lives in Robotica. (I’m still not that good at picking names.) Although my copy of Animal Crossing for the Gamecube is only a month old, I couldn’t resist getting Animal Crossing: Wild World. My big problem with the Gamecube game is that I’m hardly at home to play it, and when I am home I don’t feel like hogging the television, since my roommate isn’t one to surf on the net when she is bored. A portable Animal Crossing is perfect for someone like myself.
Read the rest of this post. (828 words)
[150] Video Games | Nintendo DS
7 December 2005, lunch time
Deepa Metha gets criticized (and then some) in India for pointing out some of the ugly parts of India’s past. I watched Water last night with Steph. I had assumed that a movie about the woeful lives of widows living in the India of 1938 would be depressing; what I didn’t appreciate was just how depressing the film would be. The movie tracks the lives of a few widows, and a handful of people they interact with. Though the commercials and trailers may suggest that Lisa Ray (who is really hot) is the star of the film, she is really one of several important characters in the movie. Seema Badwis, who plays the most devout widow living in the widow’s hostel, is, in someways, the true star of the movie. Her performance is excellent. I actually think her character’s story is the most depressing in the film. Another important character is Chuyia, the newly widowed child-bride, played by Sarala. I would say she is the lead protagonist of the movie, as much of the story focuses on her, and her interactions with the other widows. Beyond the story, the movie looks gorgeous; the cinematography is superb. The music, done by A.R. Rahman, is also excellent. I intend to track down the soundtrack. This movie is well worth watching. The tragedy is of course that widows still live like they were dead in many parts of India. This sort of ugliness needs to be pointed out.
The official Water web site.
[1] Movies
6 December 2005, lunch time
My poor t-shirts from Threadless are trapped at the Shoppers Drugmart at Woodbine Mall. There is an angry lady that works there, so I have given up trying to talk to her about getting the package moved to another postal outlet. (When I asked about having the package moved, or delivered again, she replied, witch much disdain and contempt, that they aren’t a Canada Post, they are a Shoppers Drugmart. Like I didn’t know?) If you don’t know, Woodbine mall is a sad excuse for a mall in and around Rexdale. It sits alone, surrounded by pretty much nothing. The race track isn’t too far away I suppose. Canada Post chose to deliver the shirts at 6:50, last Tuesday night. I have to pay duty on the shirts, which is why they didn’t leave them at the reception desk. Why they would deliver the shirts to an office at 7:00 at night, I’m not entirely sure. Having to pick-up something I had to pay to have delivered is annoying, but I can live with that. Talking to people from Canada Post on the otherhand is beyond aggravating. My advice to you: if you ever need to pick a package up from a postal outlet, just suck it up and do it, don’t talk to anyone. My plan is to trek out to Woodbine this Wednesday, on what may be the greatest adventure of my entire life.
Update: A post man came and dropped my package off for me. It’s a Christmas miracle. I still hate the lady that works at Woodbine Mall, but all is forgiven Canada Post.
[7] Life
5 December 2005, late evening
I finally saw the first two episodes for Lost season 2. The people behind this show are amazing. Just when you think the show is going in one direction, they throw something new at you totally out of left field. The very first episode of the second season doesn’t even resolve any of the Micheal-Jin-Sawyer story; they aren’t even mentioned! It’s only in the second episode that we get to see what is going on with them. Am I being to vague in my season two discussion? Damn right. I hate stumbling on sites that feel compelled to be any more specific about the show than I just have been. A lot of the fun of the show is learning about the back story for yourself, and noticing all the strange coincidences and interconnections. I think people need to maintain total radio silence when it comes to watching Lost. Episode 3 of Lost looks like it will be hot. I think this season is going to be as solid as the last.
Update Dec 5th 2005: Holy Shit! So I’m not midway through episode 8 of season 2. I have episode 9 all ready to go. This show is brilliant. 1 hour later: Damn, so episode 9 was also good, though episode 7, where they explain what happened to the other survivors, was probably the best of the bunch.
[5] Television
5 December 2005, the wee hours
Advance Wars DS is another great game for the Nintendo DS. I’ve been playing it non-stop for the past week and change, putting aside Mario Kart DS and Meteos to do so. Advance Wars is a turn-based strategy game, similar to the various Tactics games available for the Playstation and Gameboy Advance. You control an army, and face off against a rival army. The game is really addictive; I usually play it whenever I have a spare moment. By far the best thing about Advance Wars DS is the absolutely horrible dialog. I’m not sure if the translation team did a bad job on purpose or not—I think they must have, because some of the lines in the game are classic: “You got dropped like a phat beat!” and “Get the plates, ‘cause you just got served!” Bad dialog aside, the game play is great. The game is highly regarded by the people at 1UP. If you have a DS, the game is definitely worth checking out. All it needs is a mode that lets you play over the Internet and it’d be a perfect time-waster.
[1] Video Games | Nintendo DS
2 December 2005, lunch time
My friends and I celebrated Carvill’s birthday last year at Starfish. That was quite the meal. The goal for this year was to eat at a place even more ridiculous—which we did. Friday Night, Mezan, Dave, Carvill and I went to George.
Read the rest of this post. (926 words)
[4] Restaurants and Bars
30 November 2005, lunch time
I watched Paradise Now last night with Heather and Ben. The movie follows the paths two suicide bombers, Said and Kahled, take the day before they will blow themselves up in Tel Aviv. I was very impressed with the movie. There are a lot of really great scenes; the film was shot really well. (There is a really cool last supper shot, which you should recognize instantly if you watch the movie.) The acting was excellent; both Suicide bombers give compelling performances. Really, everyone does a great job: Said’s mother, the leader of the group behind the bombing, the fellow sent to recruit the boys. I found Said’s final monologue quite moving. The final moments in the film are quite powerful. The theater was totally silent when the film ended. I don’t think I’ve left a theatre that was so quiet after a film concluded.
The movie doesn’t really come out on either side of the argument as to whether a violent struggle is legitimate or not. The voice for a non-violent solution in the film comes from Suha, the daughter of who we are led to believe was a martyr. (She’s played by the very sexy Lubna Azabal.) Said and most of the other characters in the film present the other viewpoint. That question is never really resolved during the movie. One point that Paradise Now does argue to a conclusion is that blowing yourself up for a cause is not the result of fanaticism or religiosity, but an act of desperation and frustration with life. The two bombers feel that only in death can their lives derive any meaning. And the irony there doesn’t seem lost on them. It’s a depressing movie, covering a depressing subject.
Watch this movie.
The official Paradise Now web site.
[2] Movies
27 November 2005, evening time
I watched Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi this afternoon, killing time during a very uneventful Sunday afternoon. One of my brother’s friends had received the box set as a gift, and it has been sitting in our house for a half year or so. The poor boy got the full-screen box set. I can’t believe they even make full-screen DVDs. Return of the Jedi was as entertaining as I remembered it. The movie picks up with a Luke and his friends rescuing Han Solo from Jabba the Hut, and continues through to a daring assault on a new Death Star. There are some classic moments and lines in this film. It’s a shame Lucas didn’t let other people help him write the newer series of Star Wars movies. The confrontation between Luke, Vadar, and the Emperor is a very cool scene, as is the space fight at the end of the film. If there is one thing the newer films have going for them, it is that the space fights are even more crazy. Star Wars VI was a good conclusion to the original trilogy, Ewoks or not.
The official Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi web site. You can also view a picture of Carrie Fischer in her Jabba the Hut slave girl get-up. Meow.
Movies
25 November 2005, the wee hours
The Carlu is on the top floor of one of the older buildings in Toronto. It has a very rich history; after several years of neglect, the venue was restored in 2003 and used to host events ever since. It’s a strange, but cool, place to have a concert. I went there last night to see Echo and the Bunnymen. The band was big in the 80s, but for whatever reason never got really big; a true indie band I suppose. A strange mishmash of people filled the venue. Heather, Ben, and I were probably some of the younger people in the crowd. We bought some 7 dollar Stellas and waited for the band to play. The opening act was reminiscent of Guns and Roses and Radiohead stuck together. They played a short set. Echo and the Bunnymen didn’t take the stage till 11:00, which was quite late considering this was a wednesday night show; I would have expected with an older crowd out they would have started things earlier. I suppose that doesn’t matter, they were quite good live. They look and sound very much like a hip 80s band. You may recall hearing the song The Killing Moon in the movie Donnie Darko. They played that song, which was from 1984, and what I would imagine was a mix of old and new songs. I liked their stuff, and will need to track down some compilations or something. They’re touring in support of a new album called Siberia. If you have a chance to see them, I think you should. They are definitely a cool band.
[2] Life | Music
24 November 2005, lunch time
I have pretty bad RSI, the result of years of very poor posture while using the computer. Keep this in mind when I bring up the following criticism of my Nintendo DS.
Read the rest of this post. (332 words)
[1] Video Games | Nintendo DS
22 November 2005, the wee hours
I missed this site’s anniversary by a day. A Funkaoshi Production has been online for 2 years now. Not much has changed on the site in that time. I still write about the inane details of my life. I still watch a lot of movies. I still bitch about America. I imagine these things will be standard fair for the upcoming year as well. Hope you guys are still enjoying things here.
[2] Weblogs | Life
22 November 2005, the wee hours
As I had mentioned in passing earlier, the washer and dryer where I like are far from typical. The units sit in one corner of my apartment’s kitchen. The apartment is quite small, and there really wouldn’t be a better place to put the two machines. I didn’t realize till after I had moved in that space was not the only reason the washer and dryer were there. The washing machine at my place isn’t connected to any of the houses plumbing. “How does that work?” you might be thinking. When I moved in, my roommate showed me how to work the washer. It is an involved process:
- You need to wheel the washer from the corner of the kitchen it is in over to the sink. How else are you going to get water into the machine after all.
- You must plug the washer into the plug outlet on the stove, which is the closet outlet to the sink. The thing needs power. Now you are ready to start washing.
- You’ll need to turn on the tap, and set it to the temperature you want. (All the dials on the washing machine that set the temperature of the water are useless.) If you want different temperature water later in the wash cycle, you need to remember change the setting of the tap to the warm or cold accordingly.
- Pick the type of cycle you’d like to do and you’re ready to go.
Once I have finished a load of laundry, I get to use my dryer, which doesn’t really do anything at all. I use it more out of habit than anything else. After “drying” for 2 or 3 hours, I have somewhat damp clothing I can fold and put away.
[4] Life
21 November 2005, lunch time
Toys “R” Us had a sale last week; all the Nintendo DS games they sold were selling for $10 dollars off. I bought two games, AdvanceWars DS, which Ju-lian had recommended, and MarioKart DS, which most everyone on the planet had recommended. I hadn’t planned on getting MarioKart DS so soon, but $10 off a $45 game is a pretty big discount. I played a few rounds of the game on the subway ride home. The game plays pretty much like all the other MarioKart games that have come before it. MarioKart is like Grand Turismo, but without the spinning out all the time.
Read the rest of this post. (529 words)
[5] Video Games | Nintendo DS
18 November 2005, lunch time
So, Ananthan was totally right in the way he saw the election playing out. There are apparently 700,000 eligible voters in Jaffna, where my family is from. They basically all stayed home this election. This was the case all over the Tamil parts of Sri Lanka. More interesting, is that this was also apparently the case in places like Colombo; TamilNet has more on the votes cast. Anyway, as a result of the unofficial official Tamil boycott, the hardliner, Mahinda Rajapakse, won the election 2005 Sri Lankan presidential election by a paltry 180,000 votes. Reaction to the election is being recorded over at the BBC, and will probably make for some interesting reading.
[2] Current Events | Politics
17 November 2005, the wee hours
I put on my winter coat—the first time i’ve done so this season—and headed out to meet Matt and Kathleen at the Varsity Cinema to watch Jarhead. The film follows the life of a marine from his entrance into boot camp all the way to his leaving the marines after the Gulf War. The movie starts off pretty light hearted, but gets progressively more and more bleak as the film progresses. The mood of the film basically matches the mood of the troops. By the end of the film, the troops are all pretty messed up. The movie has some really cool shots—burning oil fields being one of many. The acting was really good from all involved; Jake Gyllenhaal did a fine job. This is definitely a film to go see.
The official Jarhead web site.
[3] Movies
16 November 2005, lunch time
With Nintendo rolling out a free world-wide network to play games over, I think the built in Wi-Fi of the Nintendo DS could turn out be its killer feature. First, and probably most important, the network is dead easy to connect to. Second, and perhaps even more import important, you can play MarioKart DS over the network. To say everyone is going mental over the game would be an understatement. Over at Penny Arcade, Tycho gives a very favourable review of the game and the DS’ Wi-Fi capabilities. One of my favourite Nintendo blogs, Hello Nintendo, offers up a similar opinion on the game. Reviews of the game have been stellar, 1UP’s review pretty typical of the scores the game has been earning. Joystiq thinks the release of MarioKart and the new network may cement the DS’ place in the market. They are probably right on the money. The game comes out in Canada today.
[3] Video Games | Nintendo DS
15 November 2005, late evening
I rented Me and You and Everyone We Know and watched it last night. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the film, though I had assumed it would be very quirky judging by the trailer. The film is about a recently divorced man who works at a shoe store, his co-worker who works with him, his two children, two girls that live in their neighborhood, a little girl that lives next door to the man and his kids, a woman that runs the museum of contemporary art, a woman that wants to be exhibited in the museum of contemporary art, an old man who has just found love again, and his new found love. What little plot there is to the movie is quite strange. There are some very funny moments in the film, but for the most part you will either sit back and enjoy how strange everything is, or you will be bored to tears. I thought the film was weaker than I had expected it to be, but still would recommend you see it. The music and cinematography are both quite good. I think it is a film you’d need to watch a couple times to really appreciate.
The official Me and You and Everyone We Know web site.
[1] Movies
15 November 2005, the wee hours
After reading a few reviews, I went out and bought Meteos on Friday, before heading off to Heather’s rocking birthday party. (I should mention in passing that Dufferin Mall, where I bought my game, reminds me an awful lot of the Scarborough Town Centre circa 1999.) Meteos is produced by the same company that made the super-awesome Lumines. They are also the company behind the infamous psychedelic shooter Rez. Meteos is fun, and definitely worth owning if you have a DS. It is similar in a very trivial way to Bejeweled. I picked up my copy used for $32 at Electronics Boutique. There are videos of the game play over in the Meteos Strategy Guide you can view to get a taste for how the game works. The reviews at 1UP gives a much better overview of the game than I have here.
[1] Video Games | Nintendo DS
14 November 2005, terribly early in the morning
I typed up one of my mini-reviews of this movie, and then realized what little I had to say would actually ruin the film. I didn’t like it that much, but it is still a film worth watching. The two-thirds of the movie are better than the last third half of the movie, in my opinion. Since I can’t say anything of substance about the film, I will say this: Natalia Verbeke is hot (NSFW).
The official Dot the I web site.
Movies
13 November 2005, terribly early in the morning
Born into Brothels is a depressing film—a very good depressing film. The movie is about the lives of a handful of children, the sons and daughters of prostitutes living in a red light district of Calcutta (Kolkata). They are taught photography by Zana Briski, who had been living in the area for two years to take photographs. She spends the bulk of the film trying to secure boarding school spots for the children, in the hopes this will provide them with a real future. The environment these children live in is pretty sad. One of the girls, who is only 14, is being pressured by her family to ‘enter the line’—you can guess what that is a euphemism for. That seems to be the future facing all the girls in the movie. The ending of the film struck me as particularly bleak. When I watch films like this I am reminded of how easy the life I lead is. Life is a lottery.
The Kids with Cameras web site.
[7] Movies
I have always loved Cavafy ’s “Ithaca — ” how, in the poem, the traveller comes to understand that he will never reach Ithaca and this does not matter. The journey is all. The horror is all. Getting off the boat or plane and saying here are my belongings and thank you for taking me in, this is almost all.
—On War by Indran Amirthanayagam
11 November 2005, lunch time
So I’ve had my DS for less than a day, and I haven’t really had a chance to play anything on it. I’ll just briefly say something on the form factor. I’ve played with the Nintendo DS a couple times before, clamped down inside a Future Shop and an Electronics Boutique. I never really got the impression it was huge. Big, yes, but nothing like the mammoth PSP. Let me tell you, for those who will also be buying a DS blindly, the thing is a brick. It’s bigger than my old-school GBA. I think it is about the same size as a PSP, only a little less wide, and a little more fat. The thing is pretty ugly. All that said, I didn’t buy the thing for it’s visual appeal. I look forward to trying out my GBA games on it when I get home this weekend.
[4] Video Games | Nintendo DS
