Postings with spoilers

In a recent posting, I included a spoiler in relation to a movie.

I guess there are a number of ways to handle a spoiler.

One might be to put it into a collapsible section. Another might be to put an image over it (using CSS) and hide the image when the mouse is put over it.

Most techniques require CSS or JavaScript though.

For simplicity, I just:

1. Used Paint.NET to find out the background colour of my current template
2. Added a div around the spoiler itself as follows:

<div style="color: #1c1c1c;">Spoiler!</div>

The only drawback of this approach is that if I change my template, my hidden text will be visible.

A better alternative, and the one I went for in the end, would be to use CSS to control both the colour of the font and the colour of the background:

<div style="color: #1c1c1c; background-color: #1c1c1c;">Spoiler!</div>

Now my spoiler is immune to changes in the template.

You could also use the CSS "hover" modifier to make text visible automatically as the mouse is moved over it. But I think having to select the text means that it will not appear unless you intend it to.

Brain Power

I mentioned that I have been playing the game "Unblock Me Free" on my Smartphone.

Well I have solved over 500 puzzles at the "Beginner" level. And recently I have been doing them without my kids' help!

But what I cannot understand is this: after solving 500 puzzles, why do I not feel any smarter?!

Maybe if I was smarter, I would be able to move on from the Beginner level!

Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" (1974)

I bought The Conversation on DVD some time ago.

I finally got around to watching it the other day, prompted by Tony Scott's death and the connection between this movie and his Enemy of the State.

The connection between the two is Gene Hackman's character. But apart from that they couldn't be much more different!

Coppola made The Conversation between The Godfather parts 1 and 2.

In the commentary, he says that he wanted to explore the use of repetition in movies. And it is certainly used to good effect (although Groundhog Day, Memento, and Source Code subsequently took that to new levels!)

IMDB indicates that both Coppola and Hackman regard the movie as their personal favourite.

Now while I can admire the movie, I have to admit that I don't really like it. It's too dark for my liking. It basically seems to be a study in how secrecy can ruin a life (and perhaps a person's mental health too).

Rating: 7.5/10

Question/Spoiler (please select the text below to make it visible):

One thing I can't understand about the story is why "The Director" went to the hotel even though he had heard the recording of the conversation?! Perhaps if I listen to the commentary right the way though, Coppola will answer this question.

Tony Scott - RIP

I was very saddened to hear of the death of Tony Scott.

I have enjoyed many of his movies over the years.

I kept a special eye on him because his brother Ridley is my favourite director.

His best movie, according to IMDB, was True Romance. It's a very good movie indeed.

I also enjoyed The Last Boy Scout very much.

But my favourite Tony Scott movie is Enemy of the State. It's a classic. I have been wanting to buy it on DVD for many years but I have been awaiting an edition with extras, ideally a commentary by the man himself.

But I have never found one and I guess I won't now. Which is a shame.

Here is what is arguably his greatest achievement in movie-making:  the 10:48 clip from True Romance featuring the confrontation between two great actors - Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken:

Voices don't change

I had occasion to return to a workplace recently where I used to work during the 80's.

I made a discovery.

People's appearance can change quite substantially over time. But adult voices remain exactly the same. So if you haven't seen someone in a long time, I think you are more likely to recognise the voice than the face.

Now obviously people's accents CAN change as they move from place to place. And so can their intonation. But my observation is that the voices generally remain the same.

Underworld: Awakening

There are two types of Underwold movie: those that feature Kate Beckinsale, and those that do not.

Underworld: Awakening falls into the former category and is much the better for it.

It also benefits from (IMHO):

• The presence of Stephen Rea (great Irish actor)
• The absence of Scott Speedman

This latter absence is strange: we're left wondering why they had to construct a storyline to allow for the fact that the character of Michael Corvin is missing most of the time.

The story is very simple, and I guess that gives you more time to appreciate the action, the effects, and the cinematography.

There are some great action sequences, and Ms Beckinsale has never looked better.

My rating: 7/10

James Randi - Debunker Extraordinaire

I mentioned James Randi and his one million dollar challenge in my last posting.

Mr Randi has been debunking fakes, frauds and charlatans for many years. His targets are the people who do not claim to be magicians/illusionists, but instead claim to have paranormal powers.

Some of the people are quite harmless - misguided entertainers. Some are quite dangerous - people who claim to be able to communicate with the dead, or to heal people.

There are lots of interesting YouTube videos about Mr Randi. Here are some examples of the people/powers which he has debunked:

Uri Geller (spoon bender) and Peter Popoff ("faith healer")
James Hydrick who claimed to be able to move objects with his mind
"Magnet Man" who claimed that metal objects would stick to him

Sylvia Browne who agreed in 2001 to submit to a test by Mr Randi (and we're all still waiting!)

Dowsing
Graphology
Psychic Crime Solving
Crystal Power
Thought Transference
Psychic Artist
Aura Reading

And here is a video of Mr Randi on astrology that I am including because it features two of my favourite celebrities: Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie:

Nothing that can't be explained

I can't scare my kids

I can't scare them with talk of ghosts, ghouls, vampires or werewolves. None of the scary things I see on the TV show Supernatural.

And why?

Because of I told them about James Randi.

Mr Randi had been offering one million dollars to anyone who can do something inexplicable (paranormal) under controlled conditions

He has been offering this bounty since 1964 (it has been one million since 1996). No takers yet.

So now my kids know that there's nothing that can't be explained.

No mind-reading. No telekinesis. No teleporting.

No magic. Only illusions.

I am happy that we live in a world that is full of wonder, but devoid of silly fears and superstitions.

Check out the James Randi Educational Foundation for more information.

The Ninth Configuration - Featurette

Following on from my last posting, I found the following very interesting featurette on The Ninth Configuration featuring Mark Kermode and the man himself, William Peter Blatty.

The Ninth Configuration - William Peter Blatty

In 1980 William Peter Blatty produced and directed "The Ninth Configuration", having written the novel and screenplay.

I guess at that time he was best known for having written the novel and screenplay for "The Exorcist". IMDB tells us that Blatty regarded The Ninth Configuration as a sequel to The Exorcist.

He only went on to direct one more movie, "The Exorcist III" in 1990.

I saw The Ninth Configuration on video shortly after it was released. It's a great movie and I never forgot it.

The movie has everything: comedy, tragedy, mystery, action, and really great dialogue. And it's thought-provoking too. Great performances by Stacy Keach, Scott Wilson, and Ed Flanders.

I watched it again today, after all these years. I wasn't disappointed.

My rating: 8/10.

Here's a still from the movie showing Keach as Col. Kane and Blatty in an uncredited role as Dr. Fromme:

Star Wars: Clone Wars

Between 2003 and 2005, George Lucas was executive producer and writer on an animated TV series called "Star Wars: Clone Wars". The series was directed by Genndy Tartakovsky.

Since 2008, the same George Lucas has been executive producer and writer on a CGI TV series called "Star Wars: The Clone Wars".

It occurs to be to wonder if he had forgotten about the first series when he was involved in naming the second one! Or maybe he was just tired...

Here is a still from the first series showing my favourite character from all of the Star Wars universe:

Olympics - Katie Taylor

Ireland did really well at London 2012 - equalling our best ever result from Melbourne in 1956:

Gold - 1 - Katie Taylor (Boxing)
Silver - 1 - John Joe Nevin (Boxing)
Bronze - 3 - Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan (Boxing), Cian O'Connor (Showjumping)

Our medal winners, and all our competitors, did the country proud.

Special mention must be given to Annalise Murphy who came fourth in a sailing event (extremely unlucky not to get a medal), Robert Heffernan who came 4th in the 50K walk and 9th in the 20K walk, and Natalya Coyle who came ninth in the modern pentathlon.

But the star, of course, was Katie. She was an inspiration. The best in the world. So much as expected of her, and she did not disappoint. A credit to herself, her family, her team, her club, and her country.

Well done Katie!

Olympics - London 2012

Every 4 years the Olympic games roll around once more.

And between each event I seem to forget how enjoyable they are.

I forget the joy and excitement of seeing people operate at the peak of physical performance. Whether running, jumping, throwing, swimming, boxing, sailing, or whatever.

I forget the joy that people experience when they win a gold, and the desolation they feel when they do not.

I forget the pride that the competitors obviously feel in representing their countries.

I forget the amazing variety of sports on display.

I forget the purity of seeing people compete against each other to prove who has the most talent, or who has worked the hardest, or who simply wants it most.

And every 4 years I re-learn all of these things.

In a world that is very complex, there is something very pure and simple and inspiring about the Olympics.

Banking and Crime

I want to correct something I said in my last posting.

I said: "The failures of the banks were not directly against individual citizens, but against the whole country".

I want to correct that.

The banks DID fail individuals who owned shares: ordinary people who bought shares in AIB, BoI, and Anglo.
 
And they DID fail individual customers. They did so by giving them mortgages in cases where (a) the property was ridiculously overvalued and (b) they gave them a loan which was too big when compared with their salaries (and therefore ability to repay).

There was a time when a bank would only give a couple a mortgage amount of 2.5 times their combined salary, and they would be expected to pay at least 10% of the cost of the house themselves. These rules were dropped by the banks with reckless abandon.

I choose to think of this as a crime against those people. Not a crime in the sense of something punishable by law unfortunately. But a crime in the sense which the dictionary defines as "a grave offence especially against morality".

I subscribe to the belief that people in this situation should be able to hand the keys back to the bank and walk away from the loan. They should be able to say: "We both gambled, we both lost". But no, this does not happen, of course. Not for ordinary people. Not in Ireland. They are expected to repay the loan. Even when the house is no longer worth the loan amount. Even when the economy has collapsed and one or both of the people may have lost their jobs. Even when the banks made a major contribution to that collapse.

Spectacular fall from grace

There was a time in Ireland, not so long ago, when the pillars of any local community were the priest, the garda (policeman), the General Practitioner (GP), and the bank manager.

It's strange to think that two of these four have suffered a spectacular fall from grace in the last number of years.

Catholic priests lost all credibility not so much because of their paedophile crimes (as these were committed by a minority) but because the institution of the church protected these criminals. In so doing they failed to protect the most defenceless members of the community, children.

The failures of the banks were not directly against individual citizens, but against the whole country. Bankers study for the "bank exams". As part of this they learn about some of the key principles of banking. One of these principles, in relation to lending, is prudence. Irish bankers traded in the principle of prudence for the practice of recklessness. In so doing they jeopardised not just the money of their depositors, but the stability of the whole Irish economy.

I am happy to report that the local garda and the local GP still have the respect of the community. But two out of four ain't great.

To be honest

I am always nervous when someone prefaces something they say to me with "to be honest..."

I think its a phrase that some people use as a preface to a lie.

I do have a friend who says it all the time, rather than just when he's getting ready to tell you something untrue, and I believe him when he uses it. Maybe he leaves it out when he's lying!

But with most people it's a red flag for me.

So you can imagine how I react when people say "to be completely honest..." or "to be perfectly honest..."! I prepare myself for a real whopper!

For some people it's like a poker player's "tell".

As Billy Joel (who at one time was my favourite singer/songwriter) wrote:

Honesty is such a lonely word.
Everyone is so untrue.
Honesty is hardly ever heard.
And mostly what I need from you.

Android Game - Unblock Me Free

I downloaded "Unblock Me Free" for my Samsung Galaxy S2 about a week ago.

I had run out of "Angry Birds" and I needed something new to let me exercise my brain while waiting for the train or similar.

In that time I have solved 300 puzzles at the "Beginner" level. So I think it's fair to say that I'm addicted!

My claim that "I" solved them would not really stand up to intense scrutiny.

That's because I have had to turn to my daugher (10) or son (7) to solve the 3 or 4 that completely stumped me!

No problem for them!

The idea of the game is to slide the brown blocks (they will only move lengthways) in order to allow the red block to slide out the little exit on the right hand side of the screen. In the screen shown below, for example, there are only 2 blocks that can be moved as the first move.

Anyway, the game is good fun and some puzzles are quite challenging so it provides good mental exercise. And there is a little fanfare each time you solve a puzzle (to reinforce the sense of accomplishment)

And maybe some day, if I practice enough, I'll be able to solve all of them myself!