Gray Stock-market - part 1

Acting: 4/5
Story: 3.5/5
Perception: 3.5/5
Rating: 3.5/5


Noticing that a sequel was coming up soon I took a look at the original, and I was more than ok.
It is the story of stockbroker who's all focused on earning a spot between the Big Players. So he gets the attention of the slickest of them all and takes a shot at the opportunity. So the dark side of the business starts to become grimmer and grimmer and he has to make some difficult choices.
The main character (Sheen jr.) did his part fine but the real deal came from Douglas and Sheen, who were like the Devil respectively the Angel on Bud's shoulders. His struggle was convincing but not breath taking, but Douglas is one hell of a gray guy. You may think that I'm misogynistic but I didn't find the female lead too intriguing, maybe was because of the way this kind of roles were written and played at the time. Or the difference in perception nowadays: because a woman could be in the center of the plot today, but less probable back then.
Oh! and Cox guy has the same style as in Scrubs, just a different outfit. 
Technically it all came out well, but far from Apocalypse Now.
For a film almost as old as I am, things turn out positive.









 Stuff - Spoiler Alert!!!

I really pity that girl who lived as a decorator because I found her taste disturbing at least; I think that a slight caricaturisation was in mind.
Films like this, depicting everyday lives, point out the evolution of the technology that surrounds us; the mobile phones looked more than odd.
 

Gradina cu maracini

Sunt momente cand nu te mai poti abtine si simti nevoia sa iti exprimi indignarea. Acesta este unul dintre ele.

Niste prieteni vor veni intr-o scurta vizita in Romania, si printre altele vor sa vada Palatul Parlamentului; asa ca am inceput sa ma interesez in legatura cu modul si conditiile de vizitare. Evident, nu exista un site oficial al obiectivului turistic Palatul Parlamentului, desi este unul din locurile cele mai cunoscute de pe la noi; dar pe diferite pagini mai mult sau mai putin private se gasesc cat de cat informatii. Si aici vine gluma:
Iata diferitele tarife in functie de continutul vizitei (sursa):

• Vizita standard: 25 lei
• Vizita standard + subsol: 30 lei
• Vizita standard + terasa: 35 lei

Pana aici toate bune (preturi un pic cam mari dar locul merita), in plus lumea e pasionata mai mult de o terasa decat de o pivnita (desi depide ceea ce gazduieste pivnita respectiva); acum vine delicatesa :
Biletul cumulat Standard + subsol + terasa costa 45 lei, adica cu 5 lei mai mult decat suma suplimentelor individuale pentru terasa si subsol. In toate vizitele si excursiile pe care le-am facut in diferite tari care scot bani frumosi din turism, care, fara falsa modestie, sunt intr-un numar demn de luat in seama pentru a sustine premizele afirmatiei, un bilet cumulat era mai IEFTIN decat suma supliementelor; ei bine la noi, nu ca nu e egal cu respectiva suma, ci e mai scump.
Adaugand la asta faptul ca in calitatea sa de capitala europeana, Bucurestiul nu dispune de un ghiseu, fie el si cat un chiosc de bilete care sa aiba rolul de Oficiu de Turism si de unde sa poti primi diferite informatii, sau ca orice deplasare, pana la fosta Capitala a Culturii, spre exemplu, se desfasoara in timp record...de negativitate, toata povestea cu caricatura aia de frunza e mai mult decat o gluma proasta.
Nu de alta dar adevaratul brend de tara (eroare intentionata) tot aterizeaza la Baneasa cu curse charter de vreo cateva saptamani.

Cluelessness

There are certain surrounding phenomena that occur permanently but for which I fail to find an explanation. They just happen, like Murphy's Laws.

One of them is related to cords, like earphones, chargers etc. I guess you all noticed that no matter how or where you place them, I mean, neatly put in a corner of a drawer or just thrown on the table, when you'd want to reuse them after, let's say, 8 h later, they'd be all tangled-up. In my opinion there should be a public grant for the research on the wire morphing that could clarify this capacity of an apparently inanimate object to mix itself up.

The other one would involve time and its ability to dilate and contract depending on the activity or the lack of one. Actually, when you're doing something is quite normal not to see the time go by, but there are other situations that lack logic. Like, when you get bored and try to make the hours go by, but no matter what you do, even developing a new quantum mechanics theory, the clock will always show that only 2 minutes have passed.
There is also the opposite, and that happens to me a lot: sitting purposeless and doing infinitesimal stuff, and realizing after a quick glance at the clock that half a day just vanished. This, mixed up with the 'tonight I'm going to bed early' saying is a perfect self-fueling match-up.

If you have some personal thoughts or other experience that are beyond human reason please share.

Update: found a new one, that's generally true in my case even though there're many of you who would disagree. It's about getting up a couple of minutes before the alarm goes off, but on out-of-routine occasions. In general, one gets used to a schedule and thus the body is able to predict the getting-up hour; but when you have wake up a 6h30 on a Sunday morning to catch a train , things seem to get more difficult. Still, you are surprised to open your eyes and notice that it is 6h27. I guess there's some kind of latent adrenaline rush that bumps you out of bed at the exact moment, but I have no really idea about how that happens. 

A different kind of symphony

To keep last week's trend, this Wednesday will be a music dedicated one also.
This time I'll briefly talk about the new Apocalyptica album 7th Symphony, which came out two days ago.

Sincerely, I liked it. It is clear that they've evolved from the group that played Metallica songs on cellos and that the drums, added a while back, complete their surprising and wicked sound.
I prefer mostly the pure instrumental stuff, the voiced pieces being a bit less impressive, getting close to any other alternative band. But this is a general pattern with all the albums; still there were some exceptions over the years.
For those interested, there's even a touch of death metal in it with the lead of Gojira on one of the songs. (hope I didn't mess up the genres because the guttural singing is not my thing)
So if you enjoy metal on cellos give it a try, it won't hurt.

Magic = Science?...Special Effects' Science!

Acting: 3.5/5
Story: 3/5
Perception: 4/5
Rating: 3.5/5 (with some advantage upon Prince of Persia)



The new Disney/Bruckheimer The Sorcerer's Apprentice is like any other Disney, but on SFX steroids.
The story is quite linear, but with one or two didn't expect that moments. It's mainly about a physics nerd who is meant to be a great sorcerer, but first of all he'll need to learn to use his magic. This is where Cage comes up, him being his master. The purpose of all this is to stop another sorcerer to free a witch from a nesting doll, thus allowing her to cast a super-spell and rule the world.
The actors did their job decently, the main character masters his uncoordinated nerdiness without looking lame. Even Cage is likable, with his know-it-all teacher like mild arrogance. And Molina is simply genuine. I was disappointed by the girl, who was nearly void, lacking charisma; Gemma got to me ;)...I can't tell if she's worse that Megan Fox, but I must admit that I can't be 100% objective.
This brings us to the fun part: the effects. Like I said this movie is basically on steroids and there are some really awesome stuff, and some funny ones also. I can't say more and thus spoil the fun.
What I also liked is the physics/science - magic parallel, and some of the explanations and facts generated from this. You don't need spirits and other stuff like that to do magic; magicians are one sort of special people, and so are scientists. Let's not forget that many discoveries and inventions were and still are considered and, even blamed to be, magic.
All in all, a 110 min enjoyable story wrapped in a thick special effects layer. If you like magic and don't mind the Disney touch on a movie you should check it out in a theater. There's a short hint to a possible sequel after the credits, but if you're in a hurry it doesn't worth the trouble.

Almost unrelated fact:
this is a PG rated movie, well...when in a theater, as most people know, there are trailers before the movie, and the persons in charge of this decided that the best choice in this case would be a PG-13 (Salt), that was like a walk in the park comparated to the 2 R-rated movies (Piranha 3D, and the lame-looking Youth in Revolt - a totally prefer Baruchel over Cera, he was borderline OK in Juno and Superbad but he never grew up)












 Stuff - Spoiler Alert!!!

The Cleaning Scene was cool - borrowed from Fantasia as I heard; and the big time magic tricks, like the car chase and the inanimate animals reanimation, were bad-ass.
Getting back to the girl: when he explained the whole situation to her, she didn't panic nor told him to go and get treated, she just went along like a sheep, not to mention the climbing up a tower to deflect an antenna which transmitted something that she couldn't see.
If you were wondering...a Tesla coil could really do those kinds of lightning bolts, the problem is: a kid would never have the means and permits to build such stuff. But I couldn't be more happier to see that his won through science, even though I saw it coming ;)
A good thing related to the story is the fact that the accomplishment of the main character is not 100% generated by love but more by a boost in self-esteem, which is more likely to be the true human nature.
Also, what is to learn from this is that good guys have friends, bad guys have people who can still be useful
Last but not least (for Persephone' sake), Monica Bellucci is getting older.

Home Sweet Home

Reading one of Rucsy's posts reminded me of something that it wanted to talk about: the idea of 'home'.

Once, when returning from one of my field trips, and as the train got closer and closer to Lyon I told myself: 'Almost home...' then I realized that the saying 'Where I lay my self is Home' kinda suits me (See that rock that's my pillow! - geek joke)
So after a deeper analysis it got to me...home is where I live long enough so that the any occurring external stay would seem relatively short. For example, a place where I lived 6 months is considered home compared to a couple of weeks round-trip out and back in that place; this could even extend to a one day trip during a week long stay. For instance, and this is a bit sad, I often recall more of a I'm home feeling coming back to, let's say, Strasbourg after a 2 weeks holiday at my True Home.
In this case I would say that I have no home, since I don't associate the universally generated feeling for Home with a particular place or surroundings. Or, more poetically, the whole Planet is my Home, which might be actually true...even though there are rooms that I prefer to others. 
I guess that in my mind the notion of home is related to routine, to the ordinary everyday life, once again time-relative. And it would seem that it has nothing to do with a specific environment or certain people (parents most likely). Because I do get the fuzzy felling when I'm about to see close family and old friends but it is not dictated by geographical coordinates.
In short, Home = spot where I currently live and hold an activity, more of a HQ.
So, am I a mechanical nutcase that doesn't get what really matters out there?...your turn, now: Where's or What's your Home?

Hollywood pure action with a fun touch - No brains attached

During my last trip, I had plenty of train time that needed to be spent, so aside from the napping and the horizon gazing, I also watched some stuff. First I started with Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans, and after 40 minutes I got really bored and gave up. So if you've seen the movie and think that it is worth watching 'till the end let me know.
The movie I watched instead was no great cinematographic achievement but kept me from falling asleep. So here it is: The Losers.

 Since I've been asked to give a more detailed rating system I will do my best and comply.

Acting: 3/5
Story: 2.5/5
Perception (video, audio, SFX and stuff): 3.5/5
Total Rating: 3/5
 
The story is comics-inspired: a group of special forces, The Losers, who are basically the last resort of the American Army, is...let's say...double crossed and so, they find themselves a helicopter ride away from death. Now, they have to get passage to the States and also get revenge, clear their names, so on and so forth. Their opportunity comes in a not-so-bad form of the former a shorter, less blue, more human  Na'vi feminine lead. And afterwards there's military/black-ops stuff going around with some inevitable complications.
The actors are far from playing their carrier roles, and moreover some of them aren't that convincing. I mean the Sniper-guy...I get it: he's not the talkative type, but he lacks credibility in being a bad-ass; he looks more like someone who's playin' it cool but who's got no lines. The boss is another one: he tries to play it tough like Hugh Jackman, but he's more of a...as we would say it in Romanian... 'Hugh Jackman with chickenpox...'
The others were OK, with special credit to the Human torch and The Pouch (for cracking the atmosphere up) and to The Bad Guy, even if he's more than exaggerated.
The dynamics is enjoyable, the movie doesn't loose momentum, which is what kept me going. And there are some good fun parts. On top of that, the explosions, gun fights and all as a Hollywood trademark don't disappoint, some of them being really awesome, but the comic book influence takes over and sometimes the characters gain too much superpowers (dodging bullets, pinpoint shooting...).
There's also some romance lost in between bullets, but it's only useful to spark up the action, no real chemistry in my opinion; Jake and Gemma did a lot better.
For me, this movie doesn't match two Burn Notice episodes in a row, but did just fine in the given conditions. One question still stands: why are they called The Losers?









Personal observations - Spoiler Alert!!!

The whole rocket launcher scene is huge, but soooo implausible, how come that the bad guys never-ever react?!...3 bullets and would have been over...All hail Deus Ex Machina!!!

Pouch quote: "I'm the black MacGyver! BlaGyver!"
I don't know if the expected gains were reached, but I'm guessing that a sequel might be in sight
At some point, I find that the Boss vs. Traitor combat started to get too far-fetched: End it off already! and when it did a motorcycle flew into an airplane, so it was quite worth the wait...

Iron...Cat-Lady

On Aug 16th, the new Iron Maiden album was shot into space: The Final Frontier

Yesterday, I got my hands on a copy...actually my ears, and unfortunately I wasn't quite thrilled of what I heard. I know that it's been a while that people say that Maiden serve the same dish passed through a different blender, but the last one had been quite OK in my book. This time on the other hand, it's just not enough. I mean even for my unprofessional hammer, anvil and stirrup the new album sounds like A Matter of Life and Death all-round, which is claimed to be a mesh of other stuff from before. It's more than the same dish, it has even been chewed up for you.
The album follows the same 10 track pattern, last one being some sort of preachy moral piece which start with a soft intro. 
The skill is still there, no doubt about it, but there's no more soul left, not to mention the inspiration. All that remains are some stretched-out tracks that are only impressive thanks to the technique.
I'll listen to a good Piece of Mind or even Fear of the Dark, to wash out the disappointment.

Brussels'...Flowers

Last weekend was a rail-trip one.
This time I didn't climb the heights but I "climbed" the map, all the way up to Belgium and The Netherlands.
I did this so I could see the Flower Carpet in Brussels and also some friends from the Benelux area.
The Flower Carpet is an event that takes place every other year, and since I could not see it last year during my 4 month stay, I wanted to make it up to my tourist-self this year.
After a 4h train ride (1h for a station switch in Paris), I arrived in the heart of the (still) Belgian capital.
The city center was crowded like I've never seen before, nearly gave me agoraphobic symptoms.
Anyway, after a good 10 min "swim" in the "human being swamp" I managed to reach the Grande Place and see the sea of slightly faded petals.

I was a bit disappointed that there was no blue in the combination, but the entire design was nice and the image in its whole quite impressive and difficult, if not impossible, to catch with a non-wide lens camera.

In fact, it was necessary to get onto the City Hall balcony in order to have a nice view; this also gave a good opportunity to see some of the awesome interiors of this City Hall, which is as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside.
The opening night, on the previous Thursday, would have been another great moment, thanks to the light/sound/fireworks show. So, it still needs to be done another time.

I'd like to use this post so I could share my infinite knowledge once more regarding some things in Brussels.
What's to see?
The City Center, with Grande Place/Grote Markt, the bladder-issued statue of Mannaken Pis, The Royal Palace (open for visits in August), Brussels Park; for culture fans there's the Magritte Museum (Modern Art) and some other museums (all in one place)...really like a Museum Mall and the Cathedral
A little further there is the somewhat big Cinquantenaire Park;
and even further:

• The Atomium (whose interior doesn't worth much, also the view from up top isn't that interesting)
• Mini Europe which is quite fun
• for the far-oriental culture passionate, the Chinese Pavilion and The Japanese Tour which are pretty fascinating

Eating
Generally, the restaurants in the central area are tourist bluffs which is also true for the 7-layered waffles.
All the restaurants near the Royal Galleries are far from being true restaurants there more like a fast-food type of wannabe Belgian restaurants.
Concerning the waffles, the Brussels ones, are rectangular and rather crispy and the Liege ones are softer, rounder and sweeter (there are actually chunks of sugar inside) and the only traditional coating is sugar.
Other pure fat Belgian specialties are the French Fries, which I personally find nauseating, and the Chocolate, which ranges from brown sweet fat paste to pure ecstasy.

This brings us to the last but definitely not the least Belgian key product: Beer. There are more than 600 types of beer, so even if you say that you hate this beverage there's one that you'll find attractive for sure. There are Braseries everywhere in Brussels, and especially in the City Centre; some that I visited and enjoyed are: The Delirium Café (Guinness World Record for the longest Beer Menu), Mort Subite, La Porte Noire, Poechenellekelder...
This year I returned to the Délirium, and I was sadly surprised that on the Ground Floor (it's a 2, even 3, stories bar) only tap beers were served, and no bottled ones.

That should be all with this guide.
But I still have a question, a train related one: do you ever feel the need of taking off your shoes when you're in a train? Because I noticed this a lot and I am deeply intrigued by this practice. I mean, it's a shared space, I don't have a hidden desires of seeing other people's socks or toes, not to mention bringing other senses into question...

Consume or Be Consumed

A couple of hours ago, I did my weekly survival shopping and I couldn't help noticing the staff of the supermarket (the Crossroads one) and especially the phrase printed on the back of their work uniform:
Comment je peux vous aider à mieux consommer?
  ( fr. for How could I help you so you would consume better?)
 Well, the English translation might be a bit shady, here consume means eat, drink, use and all other regular activities you might have with their products. But I emphasize the use of this verb: with all the debates about reducing all sorts of consumption (energy, water, food...) and having a more responsible way of life, the Economy Bosses are still developing the idea of a consumption society. I mean they could have said: How could I help you so you would choose better?, but NO, our brain must be focused on consuming, on spending money in a mechanical manner.
I would go even further and point out alternative meanings of this verb which are: use up, deplete...
This could be, in fact, the next unfortunate step the human society has to take. But, I'm am not here to overthrow the system, because, sincerely, I don't know a better one, I just want to point out the more or less subliminal messaging. So my advice would be: keep the Machine going but be careful with that Warning indicator, it has to become the priority and replace the speedometer.

Something that has less to do with consumerism but more with velocity: why do people feel the need to slow down their walking pace or even stop in the middle of a way where there are no possibilities of passing them (like escalators, tight corners, door ways...); and I've noticed that the probability increases when you're in a hurry.

Off-topic no.2: Another stringent need of pedestrians is to spread out on bike paths even though the rest of the sidewalk is free, and often to got deaf at the same time; also, the more difficult to avoid they are, the slower they walk...

Mid-aged couple adventures...or not

 Rating : 2.5/5

I was bored once and this was the best thing that I could come up with.
As you probably guessed a mid-age couple goes out on a fancy date to break from the daily routine and this routine gets more than broken. Well all this happens when they get tangled up in the web of some blackmail story because they pretended to be another couple and 'stole' their restaurant reservation. Afterwhich the hell of more-or-less funny doubtfully-probable situations breaks loose.  
This leads to gun shooting, a bit too shabby for some 'pro' thugs, and a pretty cool car chase. Actually the chase was the most interesing moment of the movie.
The rest of it screams average comedy, there are funny moments from time to time but nothing extraordinary.  
 The acting was not bad, actually there was an almost real couple chemistry going on. I guess that they would work out more than fine in a stand-up show; no need of all the cinematographic resources put out for this one.












Spoiler Alert!!!


I mostly enjoyed the restaurants scenes the Will-I-am and Sam-I-am ones included...another detail pointing out that all that mattered was the comedian potential of the actors. 

Cat on a Hot Slate Roof...

This late afternoon, through the window of my 6th floor...

Monkey Business

Here is an interesting study on TED:





Now, some personal comments:

There is a slight difference between the 'coin' insertion in human society and the one done in this study. The coins appeared as a development of the barter system, because it got difficult to transport and exchange merchandise for other merchandise. In the the monkeys case, there was no economic development, the currency was artificially introduced into their existence. So they still function on a barter system: the give away their useless chunk of metal in order to get very useful food. And they know that more trinkets mean more food so they steel the coins from others; this only proves the slick savage side in humans...
Also, they don't save up the coins; well, this option was never revealed to them, every time, one shinny disc equals food; this is also a false comparison with our society, because we save up money but do bad investments...This thing could only show is that there are no scientist monkeys to wonder what it would happen if 2 coins would be given away.
Last thing, about the gain/loss study, it is purely psychological, in one case there is a chance of winning nothing which we want to avoid and in the other one of losing nothing, which is more appealing. Faced with the 2 situations at once we would probably admit that they equivalent, but something inside makes us act in one way or the other. For the monkeys this thing is more visual, but I guess it resides in the same behavior pattern as us, only difference is that the monkeys can't evaluate probabilities...you will surely say that this was one of the aspects of the study; true, but still, I wanted to say this and to add that with statistics anything can be proved all that matters is how the topic is approached.

All in all, we have residual instincts which need to be channeled in precise directions and not to be left to wander and take control of purely rational decisions.

Unfortunately not the Last Yawn-Render

Rating : 2/5


Everyone told me not to see, but I just didn't listen...
It all happens in a fantasy world where people are directly related to natural elements. Therefore, there are 4 coexisting nations: air, water, earth and fire. Among each one of them there are individuals capable of manipulating (bending) their respective element. And there is ONLY ONE person who can bend all 4, and that's the Avatar, who on top of that can communicate with the spirits, and whose purpose is to maintain the balance in the world.
At some point this Avatar disappears, and the things go slightly to pot because one of the nations wants to control the world...the Fire nation, who else?!
The film starts with the return of the Avatar, but who only masters his birth-element, and thus leaves on a quest to learn the other 3, also liberating the villages on his way. Of course, the Firey boys (an annoying commander on one hand, and the banished FireKing's son on the other) don't quite appreciate this and want to capture him.
The plot has potential but it was presented in a sloppy way. It shifts from narration to dialog at strange moments, with no reason.
The movie is short (1.5h) so it doesn't develop much of the story but on the other hand it tends to bore you. I was expecting some awesome element fights all the way, but you get a total of 5 minutes of those, the rest is cliched dialogs up the wazoo and some kind of kung-fu ballet done by one side while the opponents sit around and watch. The "combats" really look more like turn-based strategy than real action.
From time to time, there are some beautiful landscapes but that doesn't counterbalance the whole; because the acting doesn't help either. You might get attached to one of the characters (mostly the Responsability-issued or the Daddy-issued) but it's only because of the idea they represent and not because of their performance.
One last thing, the 3D is a major BS, there is a tiny perspective but nothing that the mind couldn't develop on its own without paying extra.







Sorry...but this one doesn't deserve spoilers!

A genuinely pictured madhouse mystery

Rating : 4.5/5


Finally had the guts to see it and it was worth it.
It takes place on an island (you guessed it: Shutter Island) where people who've been charged for different crimes and declared mentally deranged are being held and more or less treated. There, a "patient" is gone missing and thus a marshal (DiCaprio) and his partner (future Bruce Banner/Hulk in the Avengers Movie) come to the island in order to investigate the situation.
The set-up is very well drawn and the atmosphere is quite genuine with no useless exaggerations: on day light the place looks like any other hospital, but when it gets darker everything becomes gloomy, that is also when the tension starts to rise. The music and the colorful flashbacks have their own role in this, too.
The acting is solid in general (Leo and Ben Kingsley aka The Big Doctor Boss are the key elements the action is knitted around) and as the plot develops you become more and more connected to the main character and his beliefs, living the scenes as you where directly involved.
Even after seeing the movie twice (it enlightens details a lot) there are still some small loose ends that aren't put together and this would be the only downside of it.
Another great thing is that the movie develops a whole debate topic through is briliant last line, and there are not many films that do so recently.
Probably this years Oscar will have as main competitors Inception and Shutter Island, but my favorite still remains Inception because of the more brainy side of the mystery, its dynamics and....why not its SFX, even though the ounce of philosophy-related message is held by Shutter Island.






Clarifications/Questions??? - Spoiler Alert!!!


First, I would like to have your thoughts on one thing: my guess is that at the end he's still aware of his true identity (Andrew) but plays along so he would get lobotomized as a sort of self punishment and escape; what do you think?
The boat trip at the beginning happens in his head or it was for real?
It is stunning how deranged people can point out the truth so easily: Ward C scene with the "Roarshach" guy...

Personal thoughts(more general than movie-related):
1. That was really one fucking ugly tie
2. Is it me or Leo has become a magnet for parts of husbands with troubled wives(Revolutionary Road, Inception, Shutter Island)? Anyway, he does it very well
3.It seams that good/interesting movies come from worlds where anything can happen like a madman's mind or a dream...

Motored-Homes

I've been living and working in Lyon for more than 4 months now ( less than 2 to go...) and every day I have to take public transportation to get from one to another.
A part of this daily route involves a bus taking a strip of highway, and not any highway...the A7 highway. For those of you who don't know: the A7 connects Lyon to Marseille and the famous Côte d'Azur area; on top of that, it is also the extension of the A6 highway, which comes straight down from Paris.
At this time of the year this looong patch of asphalt is the traffic jam paradise and the drivers' nightmare, because every western European living above the 45° lat N who wants to get to the French Mediterranean shore by car has to go through here. And this brings me to the topic of this babbling post: tourist transportation...travel trailers or caravans to be more precise.
Being stuck in traffic, I have all the time I need to study the diversity of the vehicles surrounding the bus. So after a thorough research I came to the conclusion that about 5 - 10% of the tourist cars are travel trailers; and a crushing majority from The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
The question is: why would you want to spend your holidays in a caravan?
It small, tight and crowded. You have to clean it more thoroughly than a car. You have to live on a camping site so you could use it...and, thus, be surrounded by others; and my guess is that these wonders of automotive industry are less soundproof than a hotel room. You also have to charge it up and empty all the recipients...
If you own it you must take care of it the rest of the year when it will be taking up space in your garage. If you don't own it you have to hire it every year. Moreover, there are special traffic limitations that apply to you but not to the other cars. Ok it can be useful if you have to drive in shifts to get somewhere, but upon arrival I want a real bedroom. I mean what kind of holiday is that where your jammed in less than 10m² with all the facilities crushing you; I lived for 5 years in 10m² rooms and there are better options, especially if you need to rest and enjoy your time.
You will tell me that with a caravan you can stay anywhere...maybe..if you have enough power. But isn't it more "genuine" if you would stay in a small hotel and get your tent and backpack when you're in the mood for some wilderness?
I didn't do the maths to sum up the expenses, but my rough guess is that you don't make too great savings so that the trouble would worth it. 
Just sayin'...so, what are your thoughts on these motored-homes?

Moving Tunnel

China has the world's largest population, and as any other population, the Chinese people need means of transportation. Therefore, they will soon get the biggest buses....so big that the other vehicles will go underneath the giant. 

This concept is called 3D Express Coach.
The bus will be 4-4.5 m high and could carry about 1200-1400 passengers.
The distance between the "floor" and the road would be about 2 m, so cars could easily get under. Trucks on the other hand will be detected upon approach and a warning would be emitted. The same thing will happen for cars getting too close to the wheels.
The "moving tunnel" will be passenger-fed through the doors in the ceiling.

The even better part is that the vehicle will be powered by electrical and solar energy for a top speed of 60 km/h; and their use would reduce traffic jams.

The less fun part starts here: the new bus will also need new adapted roads, because I find it difficult to see this one take a roundabout or a 90° turn. So all the routes have to be built, and this could be less environment friendly.
Anyway, it seems that the works for the first strip of road will start by the end of 2010, so with the Chinese determination the 3D will be ready to roll by 2012.

You Will Be Unprepared - Sucker Punch (2011)

The other day Jeremy was talking about a movie coming out next year, Sucker Punch. So, here's the trailer :

It takes place in a mental institution, where the patients (for what I could figure out, mostly female ones) regress inside their subconscious and create their own world were they "fight against the oppression".
The movie is directed by Zack Snyder, known for 300 and Watchmen. Personally I adored 300, but I found Watchmen a bit to slow; as it turns out from this trailer this one shouldn't have that problem.
Also, it's basically pure artistic action/violence in it's most attractive forms: fantasy, war-zone, SF, gangster-style...and with some charming center characters. I guess that after the spartan muscle-sculptures more delicate human beings were called out to serve as entry magnets.
Anyway, I'll be looking forward for the long trailer, and probably the movie itself.

The WorldWideWeb in numbers

I got this video from a friend, and it's impressive:



There are 1.73 billion internet users (actually almost 2 billion today), compared to 1.1 billion undernourished people and 1.4 billion who don't have access to water (the same number as the email users).
In percentage terms the European continent is the most internetized one.
The social networking concept exploded about 5 years ago; today its greatest representative, Facebook, has 6 million views per minute...I wonder how many of them are during working hours... :p
Another phenomenon is YouTube, with an average of 182 videos/month, which means 6/day...that's about half an hour (at least these were 4 minutes well used)
A strong proof that something is wrong with this world is the fact that the most followed Tweeter user is...Ashton Kutcher (4.25 million people are nourished by his wisdom)

All this information flow has also its bad seeds: 80% of email is spam and 150 k zombie computers spawn each day; you could say that it's not much compared to the almost 170 million computers existing on the planet...but 150k today, 150k tomorrow and we get the computer version of Zombieland/I am Legend/ 28 Days After...or any other infected-mindless-walking-dead-based movie.

Ecologically speaking one Google search generates 7g of CO2, so in two clicks you get the same carbon footprint as an electric kettle. Actually, 2 small nuclear plants would be needed to power up all the Google servers worldwide.
Know that the "clean" information technology field is responsible for 2% of the greenhouse effect gas emissions.
Last sad fun-fact: a SecondLife avatar has the same yearly energy consumption as a Brazilian citizen (1752kWh).

So by reading this blog (one in 126 million) you add 0.2g CO2/s into the ecosystem, but now you're aware of it ;)

Burn Notice

Today I'll write about another series that I started watching after reading about it in some newspaper: Burn Notice.

The DVD-cover makes things a little more interesting, ain't it? :p well, the idea is that a super-spy, Michel Westen, gets fired (technically speaking burnt) in the middle of a mission, and afterwards, he is city-arrested in Miami (it could not have been Kearney, Nebraska, could it?). There, helped by his slightly gun-obsessed ex and by another more or less special ops buddy he tries to get out of the pickle he's in and to make some money by doing different jobs. Thus, each episode revolves around a job and also adds pieces to his burn notice puzzle.
The action is very dynamic, there are surprising situations and cleverly funny moments; all in all, 40 min of cool entertainment. Moreover, the main caracter always provides out-of-the-ordinary sollutions, in a classy more sophisticated MacGuyver way.
I'm not sure that this "magic" around a spy capacities isn't as thin as the one in all the forensics series; but, here, I'm out of my field of expertise so I'm just enjoying the show. If you have a reliable confirmation that all he does is BS, enlighten me; I would still be watching it, but more as a fictional series.
One tiny personal disappointment would be that his ex "adapted" to the new environment and quit her "leprechaun" accent, but I heard that it will come back to her from time to time. :)

Europe's Rooftop

This weekend, I managed to achieve one of my touristic goals this summer: see the Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe, situated at the border of 3 countries: France, Italy and Switzerland.

So, on Saturday at 6 a.m. I was up to get the 7:04 train from Lyon; after switching 3 trains there was I, at 11:15, in Chamonix, departure point of the gondolas that take people up in the sky.
Being under time constraint (last train for Lyon at 16:40), I chose for a round-trip, from one side to the other of the massif:
Chamonix(1030m)-Plan de l'Aiguille(2317m)-Aiguille du Midi(3842m)-Helbronner(3462m).

All this isn't just about one mountain, though it is not an ordinary mountain after all; besides the snowy ridge, there are wonderful panoramas, spectacular glaciers and the proof of human physical and technological capacities pushed beyond their limits. For hikers, skiers and climbers the place will not only nourish the eyes but also the inner passion.

The thing to be done is a complete tour, by taking a gondola from Helbronner down to Courmayeur in Italy and then return to Chamonix by bus through the Mont-Blanc Tunnel. Because of the weather this is only available during the summer season. Arriving at 11, deprived me of this opportunity, but the panoramic tour was "good-enough".
One marvelous detail is the Silence, being up there all the artificial sounds are gone...all that be heard is the wind.

With a bit of luck, the one of being alone and thus easier to fit in a gondola, I managed to get back to Chamonix in time for my train; but even if I would have not, the experience was worth the extra price of a night at a hotel, not a 5-star one but still... ;)

Information and Tips:
Here is the site of the Compagne du Mont-Blanc, which patronizes of all tourist attractions in the Chamonix - Mont-Blanc Valley.
The complete tour is called Trans Mont-Blanc. It is highly recommended to check the weather a couple of days before your trip because up there the conditions are quite unstable and the gondola access could be restricted; leaving early in the morning will assure you enough time for sightseeing without the stress of missing the gondola/bus connection.
Also it's better to make a reservation in order to avoid the 1h+ waiting line for the first part of the ascent...and to be very reactive when switching gondolas at Plan de l'Aiguille.
Obviously, all the other advice concerning mountain trips are to be taken into consideration (warm clothes, adequate shoes, candy...); remember, each 1000 m equals a 6°C temperature drop, so, for almost 4000m...you do the maths.
Last but not least, the French employees of the Compagnie seem to be more polite and helpful, at least on the outside, than the Italian ones, which are bossy, regardless the language spoken by the tourists.