graphing the tree of life

26.x.XXX

An XSLT script I wrote (latest version) that converts Tree of Life (TOL) XML data into graphs, has been useful for pruning and turning database XML dumps into graph scripts for graphviz.

The graph shown here is a rendering of the first few levels of TOL. it links to my original blog entry on the XLST script, where a full size version of the image is available as well as other relevant files.



The original XML data is provided to the public on TOL's website here: TOL XML tree

In its final version the XSLT script allows the user to start the graph from any given node in the tree , as well as control the coloring of the nodes (eg, alternating colors or a color gradient for the tree).

Original version of the XSLT script can be found here: xml2dot.xsl.

More importantly this script has also been useful in pruning and converting database dumps in XML - eg "mysqldump -X" output - into graphviz graphs. This is an example output, with the scripts i wrote provided below,

.

Here are my script source codes for both directed and undirected graphs,


xml.mysql2dot.digraph.xsl

xml.mysql2dot.ugraph.xsl

... Read more

ideas dept: unshorten URLs

24.x.XXX

when we run into a shortened/shrunk URL that we dont want to visit but want to know where it points anyway, this application returns the original URL to the user, either by requesting the short URL to get the redir URL in the response or by querying the API of shortening services for the original URL. I doubt any of tiyURL bit.ly is.gd etc offer any such reverse lookups, but it wouldn't be needed anyway - but would save the service sending requests to many places instead of a closed list.
Naturally the best seat (deployment model) for this app is as a plugin for web mail im news and sms clients that shuttles url's with the app's server, and then switches URLs in the content or elsewhere.
input modalities should be preset and selectable, eg, URL substitution directly inside content or text input box for URls to unshorten (which is then replaced by a text/link label).

###
... Read more

how cometh dept: ortho fns that dont cancel out

13.x.1430

in [Waerden]** §3 :

*
Lin transformation product with scalar product of two orthogonal functions.
o
<φ_j,Aψ_k> = A<φ_j,ψ_k>
*
The scalar product should be zero b/c the two functions φ,ψ are orthogonal
*
And yet van der Waerden states this is what gives the coeffs of A:
o
<φ_j,Aψ_k> = A<φ_j,ψ_k> = a_jk
*
¡¡¡ How Cometh ?!!¿؟?



** [waerden] = van der Waerden, Group theory and quantum mechanics , Springer 1974.
English translation of Die gruppentheoretische methode in der quantenmechanik , Berlin: Springer Verlag, 1932.


. ... Read more

life and the law of inertia

11.X.MCDXXX

Does life violate Newton's first law of motion (Galileo's law of inertia) or does it merely channel / divide and redirect ancient forces from the beginning of the world.

Although the discussion turns out to be vacuous and circular, there are arguments in favor of both cases - until further more level-headed inquiry.

the wikipedia version of the law will do for now
* An object that is not moving will not move until a net force acts upon it.
* An object that is moving will not change its velocity until a net force acts upon it.

Yet living organisms, for example ourselves, being autonomous, move and change their own velocities not due to external net forces but all by themselves.

the law does not account for the force that moves a living being. it moves itself by its own volition.

The immediate cause of the movement is the actuation of muscle states by nerve signals. Preceding the onset of this process, however, What triggers this actuation?

In our case it is easy to say, thought. In the case of unicellular and other protista, some will cite changes in chemical concentration affecting sequences of stimulus-response mechanisms.

thought. it is here the force concept breaks down or seems to, because the signals originate as response to other sensory signals, none of them explaining the voluntary work done to lift a quadruped or biped up from the ground, and the forces that move their limbs.



But thought is not accountable as a net external force on the human body.

Nowhere in the law of inertia (newton's first law) does it say that a human or a living thing will accelerate itself (ie, change its own velocity).

According to this tiny piece of physics, we should not move at all, unless physically pushed - from the outside. But typically we push ourselves. We spend some energy to exert a force that was not there. We move where no motion would have been predicted by pure physics.

it's likely i'm missing a glaringly obvious detail. So it's better to start with such a criticism. This could be in the words "we spend some energy to exert a force"; so in the long view, one could say energy turned into a force that moved that individual.

this makes us energy transformers. we collect energy, then use it to exert forces that move us as well as other things.

in this sense we are much like, and are literally automobiles.

for energy is stored and converted into force (with much release of hea) to achieve motion - at will.

this sequence of forces can be traced - along the question "but what moved us" - all the way back to the first cell of life. but still, what moved it? still one can trace this back to all the forces that led to the chemical agglomeration of the first proteins and organelles.

so forces dating back billions of years led to life which stores energy and then take it and convert it into force at will whenever it moves itself or something else.

This can only be as useful as the dependence of the 2nd law of motion on it.

... Read more

fields or the society of matter

11.X.MCDXXX

Fields are not the only way to describe systems at the level of the fundamental interactions.

Fields for as long as i remember offer the most straightforward , the only way to describe the fundamental forces of nature.

On the other hand as an earlier post pointed out in a conjecture about social fields, some of the same ideas could be applied to the study of human interactions in social settings (unverified). e.g., each person emits certain types of fields, and the interactions among those fields define the kind of social behavior of people.

this could be studied using wave functions on the macro level for an entirely new set of "gauge" charges, reflecting typical social factors - eg psychological, cultural economic and political - that define social behavior, and also factors atypical for social sciences, like spirituality.

when studying particle systems, could there be similar high level descriptions?

as an example, one of the most popular abstractions of the past century is group theory based entirely on transformations. It is a classification of things by the types of transformations they can undergo (they admit).

These proved to be the primitives from which the different states can be constructed to describe the properties of different particles - mass; quantum numbers like the spin which reflects its magnetic field strength and direction (moment); angular momenta and flavors like the e- charge. thus in large part, the field mechanical formalism is a group theoretic one.

So what other higher level concepts - if any - can be identified and applied to the study of systems of particles interacting in the fundamental fields, other than the field formalisms?

one of the encouraging indications about this line of thought is that it is currently laughable - too laughable to bring up in sci'fic company.

This graph shows a few of the groups describing particle families based on fundamental interaction (force) fields in which they figure as gauge particle, or field generator / interactors (eg, the standard model aiming to include all particles, involves the cross product of three groups - for three fundamental interactions - note there is none for gravity, as no particle for it is yet known :)), in relation to other mathematical objects, including finite automata (computers).

It is reproduced from this earlier post. Made using Graphviz/2.22 :)

... Read more

pantheons as knowedge classifiers

29.Ix.mcdxxx

mythological pantheons embody a classification of all things & of knowledge in the world. eg, asclepius is the father of hygeia and panacea; asopus personifying a river is son to oceanus and another larger river personification Tethys.

the cases where allegory agrees with the natural order are many. eg, when we consider that rivers are a consequence of the rains collected from oceans, or flow from larger rivers.

but it gets more interesting when the we consider the function of a pantheon as an organizing principle for the branches of knowledge and even the content of each branch, serving as both cosmogony and cosmology.

while on the subject of pantheons and cosmogonies it is worth recalling the conspicuous contrast between the personified origin in classical mythologies and that in the abrahamic religion.

for instance in greek mythology (which draws on the more ancient ones) it all starts with chaos! who then begets a dark progeny: nyx, erebus, tartarus, and dark gaia herself.
even the Sky, the heaven, Uranus is attributed to the grace of Gaia.

In the abrahamic system the plain vanilla and more esoteric origin organizations are much more "enlightening".

In the plain vanilla lowest common denominator description, it all starts with God who is every positive thing (as well as dark) and is essentially described as Light, High, Creator, Orderer, Governer. It is no dark chaos here or a horrific vacuum (horror vacui). It is a Light Good Intelligent Fair Beautiful Imaginative principle, etc.

In the more esoteric organizations of the hierarchy of existence we find that from that Godhead emanates the Intellect (`aql) , the Pen (qalam, indispensable for a Designer or an Imaginer), the Tablet (again recalling a Designer, a record Keeper) the Soul , and so on.

In addition, the multitude of personifications are elegantly simplified and integrated as only facets of a Single Person.

The contrast is clear that while one set of cosmogonies is founded in darkness and confusion and unknown, the abrahamic system envisages an origin in light reason and order.

(common origin of all such systems is undoubted here and the darkness in the classical "heathen" systems is attributable to corruption of an initial description, better preserved in the abrahamic system.)


It is also worth noting that all human grappling with organizing the world into a rational order, originates with a belief in God, which seems to motivate the very human conception of "reason" as represented by those cosmogonies. This puts atheism in a funny and unstable position - for if all reason stemmed from the idea of God, then the negation of God is unreasonable.

and where does atheism live? it lives in exactly the same places that assume possession and control of most of the world's wealth and most of the world's institutions of power (political martial academic and media institutions) and which comprises about 1% to 5% of the world's population.

It is fair to say that the powers that be in humanity today have long imposed on us an age of Unreason.

... Read more

dephase for negative mass?

29.Ix.MCDXXX

dephasing could lead to (not negative mass so much as) a reversal of the sign of the mass / energy scalar (of a system? "of a system" is greatly desired, ie described formally in a coord system)

dephasing could mean producing two opposite states possibly by disentangling an intermediate state
between two opposites - an invisible or imperceivable balance/equilibrium state - into the component states by separating the time-dependent streams/sequences of component states.

opposing states could be embodied in dipolar patterns in nature (physical and cognitive) - the dichotomy pattern

artifacts like dichotomies and particularly this scalar sign reversal which has no meaning in physics aren't so nonsensical when the world is indistinguihsable from a mathematical description or image (a symbological or cognitive construct). in other words, negative mass is not impossible if the world is contingent on a logical formalism like our mathematics.

The de-phasing is only one kind of any possible transformations of a system that we can find that lead to a reversal of the energy scalar sign.

... Read more

DNH clause

29.Ix.mcdxxx

A Do No Harm clause is desirable for new technologies that stipulates that at the first sign of
harmful side effects the technology should be immediately discontinued until modified to a harmless
design to the best abilities of the time.
Once an accepted trade practice it can be legislated and stipulated in legal codes. ... Read more

pneumatics tips dept

27.ramadan.mcdxxx

Never discuss physics problems in the bathroom.

if there is any book in the world that can be called diabolical, it's the bible.

integrate don't differentiate.

the world can be manipulated by manipulating symbols.

keep all texts out of bathrooms, especially comics.

... Read more

pneumato note on force

27.ramadan.mcdxxx

*
forces result from mass in motion, result from motion of mass - there is the "potential energy" but potential fields of motionless particles themselves result from the residual motions inside the particles. in any case in nature, there are no point charges that just sit there.
*
ie forces are very much like momenta. similar to momenta. first and second order differentiations of the position function of time; AND the mass.

*
a weak pneumato note:
o
relation to ritual as a consecration of matter and behavior of matter, motion.
+
this is perhaps inadvertently ("coincidentally")reflected accidentally in the phrase "going through the motions".


.

Remaining text. ... Read more

social fields

27.ramadan.MCDXXX

updated version of an earlier post with some additions.

*
we imagine a human society where each individual is a generator of at least one field, or is the gauge particle of a field
*
likewise we can imagine the individual comprised a bunch of gauge charges (flavors) each interacting / generating different fields - just like a particle could interact strongly, e-weakly and gravitationally

*
or rather that every individ is both a gauge particle generating a field, and endowed with different charges , "observables that interact with other particles field
* different ways to conjecture:
-- the individuals are each unique , unlike the particles families in the physical metaphor or source of the analog we're trying to construct. conversely,
-- not unlike individual particle instances of a given class of particles, the invidivual's are identical - eg, "a single soul", and a "single Self" - and thus conform in their various properties, particularly their gauge charge. this is even more attractive than the first conjecture

*
counterconjecture: not unlike physical particles, individs represent instances of different classes / families of particles (having nothing to do necessarilty with biological kinship)
*
each individual generates a field of influence in its neighborhood
*
others are either outside the field or inside, or the field could be infinite tapring off to infinitesimality in the case of people who do not know the individual and who might subissent a residual influence that is negligible not , felt.
*
those that are closer to the indvid who generates his field, have a larger charge wrt to the charge field generated by the individ than others.
*
this determines their proximity or distance to him in his field - which socially translates to the group of people interacting directly with the individ.

*
what kind of topological space would correspond to the set of individuals in a society?
o
how connected, compact, and separable is that topological space?
o
what kind as in how is it to be classified? t0, t1, t2, t2.5, t3, t3.5 , t4, t5, t6,
+
hausdorff, normal, regular, tychonoff, etc.
o
we note that the intersections of neighborhoods are not empty, as one clue to the type of topology of the social spc

*
we let state be the open/closed / clopen sets that constitute the (local) neighborhood of each individ in the social set or space
o
there may be a prblm w/ that def

*
we image that transformations are changes of state for a given subset S of the spc
o
if the change of state is generated from S (self-generated) ,
+
the xform is an automorphism?
+
equiv to action by the subset?
o
if the change is generated by another subset R , it is a xform R→S or is it?
o
it is not
o
we cannot change a subset R to subset S , we cannot transorm people into other people
o
the changes are from state(t1) to state(t2),
o
thus it seems the change is from a subset to a subset hence always an automorphism
o
on the other hand individs may move from one subset to another in the course of / due to a xformat ,thus
+
was the xform applied to single subset ending up affecting more than just that subst or
+
was the xformat applied to all the subsets that got affected?

*
thus there may be two prblms w/ xformats
o
in defining what is a state
o
in defining what is a transformation (of what, what changes what remains the same, from what to what,automorph or not)

*
motivation for social xforms:
o
ideally that would be to look at em in terms of groups, the study of which properties are useful to descriptions (and verifiable sims) of the system
o
but since a) i know neither what it means to organize xforms into groups , nor what the props o groups and their representations, their lie algs and their lie algebras' reps say about the system or the xformats; and b) i am in the effort to understand and know those things
o
this is what the construct of the social field analogy and identifying xformats their groups vis a vis the props / observables and the system.
o
wrk symmetry into that: those xforms that leaves certain props unchanged.


foregoing can thus also relate a bit to an earlier post, I am negative mass.
... Read more

the countrification of cyberspace (and the web)

05.viiI.MCDXXX

The firewall of china's so big you can see it from cyberspace. Cant get a day pass at Spotify - sucks to be in your country 'cause it's not available there. you got 3 out of 245 chances of being in the right country to enjoy last.fm. google blocks TOR and other anonymization services.



One of the exciting things about early Internet social media (the early ones included BBS, NNTP, IRC, mailing lists) and of the web was the nationlessness of communication. You could enter into communication with random strangers in far flung lands and not have to worry what you think of their place or what they think of yours. This gave a temporary respite from int'n or racial or cultural prejudice.

Then someone invented geolocation by IANA lookups, or geoIP. As a result one again gets hemmed in by geographically-based presumptions. (See for instance this post serve it in english svp)

It sucks but many will argue we had it coming due to a myriad legal and financial issues - namely every one of humanity's vices - freeloading entertainment media, politics, e-commerce trade regulations, the unsolicited shoving of things down your vision nerves known as advertising or marketing, etc.

The problem isn't with the law enforcement part. The trouble is that every big party uncritically and eagerly embraced and exploited this break-up of the Pangeaic cyberspace into country ip ranges, for pigeon-holing and exclusivism as the chief uses for geo IP location.

It reeks. ... Read more

time bubble note

26.vii.MCDXXX

Like any foam, the bubbles in a time foam would have to be maintained by surface tension. But tension of what surface?

The surface of a time bubble consists of nothing other than regular mass , but controlled in a way , perhaps through intrinsic momenta or angular momenta, so as to create a differential between the rate of time flow inside and outside the bubble. ... Read more

some oriental abjads

14.vii.MMIX - 21.vIi.MCDXXX

download spreadsheet file (177 736 bytes).

### ... Read more

film revu draft: film review medley

21.vii.MCDXXX

game for skewering:


(star system: no stars for suckers, or some for hook interestingness and/or prodction qlty)

**** In the valley of Elah

thoughtful casting places a whole line up of very talented actors in the best roles i've seen them in in a long time. The actors and their parts fit together very well. Tommy lee jones in particular delivered a carefully crafted performance that was very thoughtful, telling and touching.
haggis. he's got it. he write the good stuff paul haggis.
he'd caught my attention in Crash to be sure - which was more heartfelt, tighter and more real than emotional orgasms of paul thomas anderson's magnolia.
Indeed this movie represents a few steps up the quality ladder since Crash.
Haggis' filmography reveals a slinger and a heavy hitter.
His writing credits include the two latest outings of the new Bond, three Clint Eastwood movies.

although i avoided them when they were released , now recognized as eastwood haggis collaborations they are at least worth checking out.

already million dollar baby stands out as one of the best boxing movies in its proximity to the sport itself + the strong melodrama that burdens and drives its characters.

Team America (2004)

I'd skipped that one too . There ws no way i was going to watch self-indulgences on the war from the South park angle. But of the post 03 war movie wave, this was one of the earliest.
For all its ambivalence (or complacency) and idiosyncracies it's a solid comedy. it's south park; so it's also over the top: there are enough times you hear the name of jesus invoked in exclamation associated with wanton acts of intercourse.

# passion of the christ

incomplete - b/c i skipped a lotta scenes
i never liked cazievel anyway - jus lk @ the name
belucci does some repenting
listening the very arabic-like aramaic is v. interesing
nad quite puts the lie to the ajami foreign alien exoontologic turkic/hungar language of khebkhew

# family plot (Hitchcock 1976)

lol his name is hitchcock.
anyway
finally finished this plodding un-funny though it thinks it is flick
full of cliches from its period (mid/late 60s - what? late 70s?
crime, suspense, thriller flicks
where directors and actors who for some unknown reason think they're cute
and are droll
are actually anything but
if anything it points to the atrocious state of humour among at least that clique
in their day.
most brit - like hitchy here -
i recall those endless ensemble suspense/thriller/murder/whodunit/whatrwecalledherefor dramas
with the likes of peter sellers, david niven, assorted harlots and sidekicks (lol like i bet
robter wagner and the likes)
lol, eg,
cat and the canary
also the period goes with my current disco phase

indi jones & crystal skull

is v. effing dull

** Strange days (1995)

Can hardly believe this cyberpunk flick was made in 1995 !!!!
so visionary
their foretelling of the millenium parties is remarkable - tho
it is rather str8fwd if u think abou it
the memory transcription thing is one of the more interesting themes in sci-fi
see greg egan s/w copy or something , paprika anime, etc.

Chemical wedding (2008)

another cyberpunk movie
quantum interference, squids,
crazy quantum-related computer-controlled transmigration of souls, reincarnation
astral projection AND time travel
to say nothing
of masonic rites and references, philological devices, occult galore,
and satanic sex orgies
gotta be the cyberpunk flick of the decade so far !
naturally none of the critics understood it
nor did i of course - but it takes some background knowlege on
crowley and his AA-OTO-GD crowd , his thoughts etc
smoe of the references make more sense when familiar with his works
like the 7777777,... message eg.

# **** Mongol (2007)

good treatment -
much appreciate the mongol (monguk) dialogues
the interesting costumes of the turko-monguk settings on the outskirts of the xixin kingdom
and the interpretations were good as well
another plus is the story tallies with every other work i've perused on
the Khagan's life - which all obviously derive from the same legend and source
the secret history of the mongol people

the vistas of the open steppes, the well thought-out sets
give off historical reality and gravity
with the right mood it allowed me to wander into the very human condition itself
and this primordial tale which must have been replicated throughout ostasia and transpacific
for millenia.

then of course the story of this man, clearly guided and protected by fate / destiny,
amounting to making an unstoppable agent, close to that of major prophets.
The morality cliches , the dedication fo the wife, the monk, the trials and deprivations
of the khagan are - as is the habit with chinese / ostasian productions - touching.

# Street Fighter: The legend of Chun Li (2009)

not bad , has some interesting hooks
still not sold on that genre AND it is a game adaptation
a genre of which i have still seen nothing impressive
but a novel and interesting environment and context and set of
cliches / tropes for me to watch since i'm so unfamiliar
with this tacky brainless bullshit

i guess one attractive (literally) elemnt in this genre of movies
(kickboxing,street fighting vigilante type shit)
which could be seen in this flick and i often saw it
in the random tv replays of van damme and lambert flicks
is how its protags exude this goodness and good faith
and the story is so simplistically morally clearcut
to watch it is like a massage to viewers' ethical subsystems

but it is particularly a good natured quality about the protag
that appeals to the "masses" which also includes me every now
and a blue moon, with a trough in my intellectual biorhythm,
and nothing better to watch :)

# ** Starship Troopers 3 (2008)

it's pretty close to the original flick
reprises much of the same art direction, and character of the first one.
quite unlike the very shazh/outcast, the 2nd sequel

# starship troopers 2 (200x)

disparate from the other two in the series
+ sucks ass basically
it's like Alien on a shoestring budget by
performing arts wannabes - yep it's squarely on the low-end
of the "hack movie" category
must've gotten it today after ST3 wetted my appetite for more

# Resident Evil: degeneration (2008)

not bad not bad for a 3D anime
some nice details
noted the work on the textures like textiles, >= two layers of hair
the facial playacting
and facial features
tho still people do not move like that -

* Duplicity (2009)

not bad not bad
w/ the inside man guy the one with always good parts - clive owen
better than the rest in its type of plot
i recall the one with clooney -
and another with the stupid euro company selling bad weapons to some
arab country - and their relation with russian mafia and the protag.
the three fit together.
this one was perhaps better.

Dead space downfall (2008)

cartoon - cel animation
art approaches that ugly art of the guy who made the aeon flux cartoon series
but the art is thankfully much better than that - particularly the humans are much better
tho still leaving much to be desired.
otoh, the craft and tech designs were nice. particularly the space tether
was well conceived - and an upgrade on the legendary spelevator.

Eagle eye (2008)

OMG it's soooooo imbecilic

outlander

OMG it's soooooooo baaaaad
and imbecilic
also score's almost the same as previous entry
but great creature design

Gin-iro no Kami no Agito

(=Agito the Silver-Haired)(2006, Keiichi Sugiyama) aka (origin - spirits of the past)
studio Gonzo
def'ly NOT studio ghibli
for every studio ghibli there is a studio gonzo
to fool the less discerning

changeling (2008)

i hear oscar nominations
which isn't saying much - it's already done w/ we're in june's end
but what a harrowing story
and the history seems to be told well, 'least for a hllywd picsher
but utterly unmemorable. the story is so small compared
to the steppes of Ghengiz khan the alien infestations in far away galaxies.
no actually some key elements were missing from this work.
and angelina jolie won't convince me of motherhood emotions if they paid me.

confessions of a shopaholic

incomplete
she so cute & funny
ok and also vomit inducing but cute
she has that reese witherspoon air about her.

**** oss 117: rio ne répond + (2009)

Manages to tackle a culturally sensitive area with frankness and subtlety, tho characteristically it doesn't take itself too seriously - or at least presents itself this way. understandably - for it juggles heavy baggage: as an exploitation spoof, as an exploitation movie itself, as intercultural readings through (faux-)satire, and so on.
isn't Hubert, among other things, sarkozian france in today's confusing state of the world? so are his co-star chars also personifications of the different locales he stumbles into.
all reasons to look fwd to the next installement in the series - maybe in 2010.

*** king arthur (2004)

2nd time watch
fresh take - a demystified look at the legend, attempting to place it in an historical
context - that or reproducing the novel that originally did that.
good despite melodramatic flourishes and score
good cast too - and clive owens very distinguishing in the roles he chooses- something that viewers appreciate in actors.

hardware (1990)

piece of garbage
lowest tech movie ever
tech takes a nosedive in this foresaken flick
a cyberpunk wannabe that fails so badly - never even tries
stupid
ages badly because it wasn't up to its own time
would appear more impressive if it were made in 1969 not 1990
incomplete - couldn't finish it

notorious (2008)

so lame
gives "black" or "hood" movies a bad name
do all biopics suck?
it sucks ass - no cool, no pace, no charisma, nothing
couldn't finish it
and seriously if notorious biggs is anything like that actor (was he him?!)
he so lame man. i hung out with people who hung out with puff daddy read p-diddy,
and this film here is laaaayme bro its laaaame.

entre les murs (2008)

excellent classroom drama
best one i've seen so far?
2nd time lucky -

Columbo 5x02 A Case Of Immunity Ac3 Dvdrip Xvid

reel arabs episode - nominated for emmy
goldblum carrying Saurians sign
the fictional arab dictatorship is sauria - either a play on saudia or syria
incomplete

friday 13th 2009

incomplete
nothing new
michael bay shud be kept away frm teen movies

Push (2008)

incomplete
great story - terrible film
and what the hell is with this silly idea of sniffers
it's disgusting to start with

highway to hell (1991)

nostalgia for one of those random old rentals from the time i watched it - obviously
past the late 80s /90s cusp viewing wave
so 2nd time or so since 91/92 maybe even 93/94 !
discovered
it has early parts for buddies ben stiller his dad and his sister even!
stiller again cast / casting himself as the idiot - so it's a loooong running
gag with him. but u can nearly always tell he's no idiot - nearly because - well
watch zoolander + dodgeball
incomplete

Martyrs (2008)

french hoghogh
compelling thought if only for a second - though a second later the gaping hole in the premise becomes evident. despite anything compelling it remains a gratuitous/exploit. film and i didn't like that.

beowulf and grendel (2005)

demystified look at the legend
demystified and boooooring.
but w/ whatchmacallem, King Arthur (2004) *** , and the more engaging Beowulf (2007) *** ,
they form the kernel of a good Gothic (the historical culture not the literary genre) Film fest.

... Read more