Category: Pop Culture

Shut Up And Fix It

On By WinstonIn Media, Movies, Personal Responsibility, Politics, Pop Culture, Society, Uncategorized, Values, Video GamesLeave a comment

It took a week, but the NRA (National Rifle Association) has finally decided how to respond to the Newtown, Connecticut shooting. According to them, it had nothing to do with the shooters ease of access to high capacity semi-automatic weapons. Of course not. It was his exposure to violent video games and movies.

We know this is true because it’s the argument that gets trotted out every time people don’t want to look at a real problem. It is always pop-cultures fault. When I was younger, it was role playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons which were “to blame”. Clint Eastwood movies were a horrible influence and sure to have us shooting each other with wild abandon.

Unfortunately for the NRA and those like them, (but fortunately for the rest of us) that’s not how it works. It’s not a simple case of “Money See, Monkey Do”. Anyone without a severe mental health issue is more than capable of separating what they see on the screen from the world around them. If they can’t, it’s a failure of their parents and society as a whole, not just the media.

I’m going to keep this one short today, so I’ll cut to the chase. If that young man’s mother hadn’t taken him to the range and kept multiple, easily accessible firearms in her home, she and the other victims killed by her son would still be alive. The NRA and their supporters can scream their lungs out saying it isn’t so, but I have one irrefutable piece of evidence to the contrary…. Canada.

We play violent video games. We watch countless hours of violent movies and television. Year somehow, we have a relatively small number of mass shootings. Are we somehow magically immune to the corrupting influence of the vile media filth in which we are immersed? No, there’s a much simpler answer. When we get angry, we can’t simply open the sock drawer, pull out a couple of high capacity pistols and start blasting.

So to the NRA and everyone else who has jumped on the entertainment industry bashing band wagon, there’s your cold hard proof. It’s not violent media, it’s  guns that are problem. Now shut up and fix it.

Cheers, Winston

Science On The Internet

On By WinstonIn Humor, Media, Pop Culture, Science, UncategorizedLeave a comment

If you’ve ever gone online, you’ve most likely encountered what I like to think of as Internet Science. I’m not talking about real science that actually makes the internet possible. I’m talking about the weird and special things you can find masquerading as science online.

Among the most conspicuous, are the ads featuring “One weird old secret for a flat tummy” or “Plastic surgeons hate her… 58 year old woman looks 28… here’s her secret”… and of course the millions of ads promising to make any guys penis the envy of large horses everywhere.

This was all triggered by a friend of mine who may have had pink eye. They were trying to figure out how they contracted it and said… “You can only get it by kissing someone who has it or by someone farting on your pillow.” When I finally stopped laughing and caught my breath, I told them that’s not how you catch pink-eye. “But I saw it on this site online!” After more laughing I directed them to an actual reputable wibsite which listed how you really get pink eye. (Bacterial infection, not pillow farts)

Then I experienced Internet Science for myself. Now my eyes are open, my life is changed and I will share this simple secret with everyone. Or at least the people who read this blog.

I have diabetes, so I have to regularly monitor my blood sugar. The lower the better. Last month my sugar level was around 21 (healthy is 4-7) so I’ve been working to get it under control. Yesterday, I worked a 14hr day with only breakfast. Going that long without eating usually drives my sugars crazy, but before my really late supper, they were only at 12.4. Yay for progress. To celebrate this success, I ate three mince tarts for supper knowing full well my sugars would be high this moring.

When I checked them before breakfast I got a 12.2. This is where the cool internet science kicks in. Because I had mince tarts before bed and my sugar was 0.2 lower this morning, it’s obvious that mince tarts lower blood sugar! Forget actual medicine prescribed by doctors. That’s all just a scam by the big drug companies to get money from you. Mince tarts cost only a fraction of what you’re paying every month for pills and needles.

As I just demonstrated, this is a PROVEN technique to fight high blood sugars. You can thank me later. (If you’re still around) Not only will this save you money, but you also get to eat yummy, yummy mince tarts. (You can thank me for that too.)

Now you understand how this works, you too can share the wonder of Science on the Internet.

Cheers, Winston

Disclaimer: This is not real science. If you have diabetes PLEASE continue taking any prescribed medication and do not eat yummy, yummy mince tarts to lower your sugars. This article is intended as satire only. Contrary to the wisdom of the internet, this is NOT science.

W

Here’s Why The World May End On The 21st

On By WinstonIn Personal Responsibility, Pop Culture, Psychology, Society, Uncategorized, Values2 Comments

I’m not a “Mayan Doomsday” believer. I just think there are some limits to how far a joke can go before the Universe hits “RESET”. If the following story isn’t a sign of the end times, it really should be.

According to this article on oregonlive.com two boys aged 11 and 7 attempted to carjack a woman in the parking lot of a local church. Police responded to a call from a woman saying that her son had seen a gun in possesion of another young boy. When Police arrived, the boys bolted, but were caught beside the church. Despite being told by police to keep his hands out of his pockets, the older boy attempted to reach the gun but was prevented by the officers. Police recovered a loaded and cocked pistol from the older boy.

Because the boys are too young for jevenile detention, they were released to the custody of their parents. That’s obviously the best thing because it’s worked well so far. I’m not saying they’re bad parents. I don’t know them, or their parenting abilities. What I do know is that whatever they’re doing so far isn’t working. But hey, let’s drop them back there anyway. As soon as he was dropped off at home, the 11 year old ran off, but was quickly caught and returned to his parents. Good luck with that.

Why you may wonder would a couple of boys that young try their hands at carjacking? Personally, I think that part of the answer lies in the total lack of anything like a consequence. They can’t be detained. They can’t be charged. They’re basically walking, talking teflon. Nothing they do is going to stick to them. So let’s ship them home and wait for the story about a “random” shooting in Portland.

These kids shouldn’t be roaming around loose. They should be in a mental health facility pending a full psych evaluation and some extensive and ongoing rehabilitation. I know it’s officially terrible to talk about committing such young children to that type of facility, but they obviously represent a clear and present danger to the community around them. I”d sooner lock up a couple of alleged innocents rather than wait for them to start killing people.

We live in a world where young children will give carjacking a try and then when they do, we just cut them loose and send them home. This is only partly about gun control (there is still some question as to where they got the gun), it is more about self control and what we aren’t teaching our young people. We aren’t teaching them to respect others, or themselves. We aren’t teaching them to work for what they want. It’s a culture of “I want what I want and I want it now and I don’t care what it costs as long as I’m not paying for it.”

By letting these boys walk away from an attempted carjacking, we’re just reinforcing the idea that they can take what they want without paying for it. I may be wrong, but I don’t think that’s an idea we should be encouraging.

I don’t know how far we can go with this before the universe voids our reality check. That’s why the world may end on the 21st.

Cheers, Winston

“The HOBBIT” Rules!

On By WinstonIn Film Reviews, Loving Life, Media, Movies, Pop Culture, UncategorizedLeave a comment

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My friend Jason came through for me again. I told him I planned to go see “The HOBBIT” on my birthday next week and he called a friend and hooked me up with passes to the press screening last night. (Thanks again J, you ROCK!)

I don’t do spoilers, so I won’t give away any plot points. I will say that I had some concerns going in. Chief among them the question of how to expand a single (slim) book into three movies. Asuming that the next two are the equal of this one, the answer is: brilliantly…. for the most part. There were a couple of bits I wasn’t totally on side with, but not enough to spoil the overall experience.

The much hyped 3D / 48 frames per second technology rendered the trademark visuals just that much more luscious. New Zealand is still the most beautiful star in the film. The Weta teams, both virtual and physical are once again clearly at the top of their game. Overall production quality is still astonishingly high and one expects nothing less.

I won’t say any more on it until it has been in wide release for a while. Suffice to say, I plan to see it again while it is in theaters. Then begins the long wait for part two.

Long story short… The “HOBBIT” Rules!

Cheers, Winston

Job Well Done Microsoft

On By WinstonIn Personal, Pop Culture, Technology, Uncategorized, Windows 8Leave a comment

So last month I got myself a new laptop. Nothing crazy, but a very nice mid-range AMD quad-core. It came with Windows 7 pre-installed. It also came with a voucher to get $25 off Windows 8. So I said what the heck, why not.

Now I’m just waiting for the install to complete. So far so good. The only thing it hates is my Bluetooth drivers so I’ll have to redo those when it finishes.

On a slightly peculiar side note, when it complained about the driver, and it did so in French. The rest of the installation is in English. Strange, but not any sort of disaster.

Now ten percent…… The wait continues.

Nearly an hour later, I’m now running Windows 8 on my laptop. YAY! I have to say, I like what I see so far. It’s a clever amalgam of Windows Phone OS with access to a more traditional PC desktop.

The Windows 8 interface consists of a set of large, colorful buttons/icons linking to a variety of pre-installed apps. That’s right, apps. Just like those things on everyone’s smart phones. So much like a smart phone in fact that additional ones can be had through Microsoft’s own app store.

In this lies the true innovation in this latest effort from the nice people at Redmond. They’ve beaten Apple to the punch by integrating their mobile and less mobile OS platforms to an unprecedented degree. iOS looks nothing like OSX Mountain Lion. I’ve yet to see a desktop Linux build that remotely resembles Android despite Google’s abortive Chrome desktop a few years back.

Microsoft took it the other way. Instead of trying to figure out how to strip down and shoehorn a desktop OS onto a phone, they built up their phone OS into something that could be useful on a notebook, net book or desktop. Along the way, achieved a couple of other really impressive feats. They lowered its hardware requirements and it’s base price.

It owes both of these achievements to its phone OS DNA. Phones have pretty wildly varied hardware specs. This means that your phone OS has to be able to work smoothly on as broad a hardware spectrum as possible. Hence Windows 8 minimum requirements of 1ghz processor, 2gb of ram and 20gbs of hard drive space. Pretty modest by today’s standards, or yesterday’s for that matter.

The other piece of phone DNA can be seen as either good news or bad depending on how you see it. That’s the idea of the app store. For years Windows has been jeeringly regarded as the epitome of bloatware. Packed with tons of useless items for which Microsoft demanded a ton of money whether you wanted them or not. Not so much anymore. You can still pay a ton of money (a little bit at a time) but now it’s up to you whether or not you get anything from their app store.

Personally I’m liking the new business model. Because I had recently purchased my laptop, I was able to do my upgrade to Windows 8 for a whopping $14.99 CDN. For those who haven’t bought new hardware, it’s much, much pricier…….. $39.99. Pretty outrageous eh?

The verdict so far…. I’m liking it. It’s innovative. It’s pretty. It’s a whole new direction from a company that’s been running in a straight line for years.

Congratulations Microsoft… Job well done.

Cheers, Winston

“Tintin” Review

On By WinstonIn Film Reviews, Personal, Pop Culture1 Comment

My friend Jason gave me screener passes to the new Tintin film as an early birthday present.  So bright and early this morning, Lynn and I dragged ourselves out of bed and headed off to the ten a.m. show.  It couldn’t have been more worthwhile.

I have been a been a fan of the iconic red-headed trouble magnet for years.  I suspect that Spielberg and Jackson have as well.  That is the only way they could have done such a fabulous job of interpreting it for the screen.

Going in, I was slightly worried.  These two industry giants are best known for massive blockbuster pictures and Tintin has never been a blockbuster character.  My worry was that he and Snowy (his loyal and absolutely adorable dog) might get lost in it all.  To their credit, that was never a concern.  No matter how impressive the location, or over the top the action the focus always stayed firmly on the characters and story.

The casting is similarly impeccable with Tintin played by Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock and Daniel Craig rounding out the main characters as the villainous Sakharin.  As note perfect as they were, I have to give a quick shout-out to one of my favorite comedy duos.  Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Paul) play bumbling Interpol inspectors Thomson and Thompson.  They are in fine form and just added that extra touch to my enjoyment of this movie.

Visually stunning, well written and brilliantly played, Tintin stayed true to it’s source.  In my opinion a brilliant movie that could serve as a guide for a different sort of animated movie experience.  Sadly, it probably won’t.  Based on the quietness of the exiting crowd, I don’t expect it to get much box office.  As much as I loved it, much of the audience seemed indifferent to it.

The sequel is already in the works (surprise, surprise), set to be directed by co-producer Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings).  I’m not sure if this movie will grab enough audience to get the sequel green-lighted, but I certainly hope it does.  It’s a rarity these days.  A movie chasing the mainstream that isn’t just another cookie-cutter clone of the last big box office hit.

Here’s hoping it makes it!

Cheers, Winston

A New Low For Christmas Greed

On By WinstonIn Pop Culture, Rants, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

I recently read an article on the Ottawa Sun app that makes the impending zombie apocalypse look downright appealing.  It all has to do with a teenage girl’s letter to Santa.

At first glance, it seems sweet that thirteen year old Mekeeda Austin still writes letters to Santa.  That warm, fuzzy feeling comes to a screeching halt the moment you learn what it is she has actually written to him.
“This Christmas, I don’t ask for much, so if I don’t get at least two of the things I want I want, I will literally kill you!  Do you understand?  Oh, also, I’ll hunt down your reindeers, cook them and serve their meat to homeless people on Christmas Day.  None of us want that, so here’s what I want.”

She then lists a Blackberry, cash, a dress, high top Converse shoes and the real Justin Bieber.  “Remember, two of these things or you die.”  She then signs it, “Love from Keedy.”

Her mother, who found the letter, thinks it’s just humorous.  She then goes on to say that she will try to get her everything she wants but admits that the Beebs might be difficult as he will likely be busy with his own family.  She seems not to see anything wrong with her daughter’s letter, but does add that “… you  don’t want to get on the wrong side of her.”

When asked by a reporter about the letter, Keedy replied, “I want all these things and I don’t see why I shouldn’t get them.”

Now you see why I’d prefer the zombies.  They might try to eat Santa because that’s what zombies do, but at least they won’t shank him for a pair of Converse high tops.  Nope for that, you need a regular living, breathing sociopath.  In this case in the form of a thirteen year old girl.  But the truth is, they come in all shapes and sizes.  Keedy just happens to be a textbook example.

If you look up “rampant, amoral consumerism” in an encyclopedia, you should see this kid’s face.  She’s pretty much the poster child for everything that is wrong with our “things over people” approach to life.  That’s right, OUR approach to life.

Most of us are horrified by the idea of capping the jolly one for some cash or a new outfit, even more so by the thought of Blitzen Burgers down at the shelter.  The fact of the matter is, we aren’t that far removed from the self-absorbed little girl who wrote that letter.

We like to think we are, but that is demonstrably not the case.  If we were so much better than her, we wouldn’t be watching our widescreen HD TVs while someone else is watching people walk by where they’re sleeping in an alley.  We wouldn’t be worrying about staying warm in a hockey arena while others try to stay warm by huddling in a doorway.

Keedy isn’t all that special.  She’s just at a more advanced stage of a global malaise.  She may be the poster child, but we all suffer from it to some degree.

Just something to think about.

Cheers, Winston

The NCC Rolls Over, The Occupation Rolls On

On By WinstonIn Global Issues, Occupy Movement, Personal Responsibility, Politics, Pop Culture, Society, Values2 Comments

Here in Ottawa, the National Capitol Commission (NCC) issued an eviction notice to the Occupy My Last Nerve crowd in Confederation Park.  The official midnight deadline passed and the Occupiers are still Occupied Occupying a park they have no right to camp in.  Kudos to the NCC for being spineless bureaucrats worried about offending a couple of dozen campers while ignoring the rights of every other person in the city.

We all have the right to use and enjoy Confederation Park.  My tax dollars help pay for that park, and I don’t enjoy having it full of tents and the twerps who put them there.  Seriously, these people have got to have reality explained to them.  The longer this idiocy drags on, the more annoying they become.  As witness this gem from Paul Boudreau the group’s spokesperson.

“We decided that we would politically resist eviction.  What that means is the NCC’s eviction notice is wrong and we don’t consent to it.”

Really?  You don’t consent to the eviction order?  Really?  Go to jail.  Go directly to jail.  Do not pass go.  Do not collect two hundred dollars.  Who exactly do you think you are?  This isn’t Libya, or Egypt or Syria.  You aren’t protesting a repressive and unjust regime that refuses to let you choose your government.  Hell, they’ve allowed you to camp in a public park for two months.  That’s pretty much the opposite of repressive.

An un-named protester shared this bit of genius. “I’m graduate of the University of Ottawa and I lost my job and I’m about to lose my apartment.  The system is wrong and we have to get it fixed.”

Really?  A university graduate?  Really?  If the best plan you’ve got in the face of unemployment and imminent homelessness is to camp in a park, you should ask for you money back from U Ottawa.  It’s pretty obvious they didn’t teach you anything useful.  Just out of curiosity, was the system wrong before you lost you job or only after?  It’s a fair question.

Speaking of fair questions, here are a couple more.  Are you politically active?  Not camping wise, but actually campaigning for these dearly held values of yours.  That’s how you we fix systems in this country by actually working at it.  Not whining and hoping someone will fix it for us.

Now this second question is the tricky one.  Have you considered going out and getting a job?  I realize that with your grand education and all it’s a bit beneath your dignity but you might give it some thought.  I lost my job because of greedy, stupid people at our U.S. parent.  If anyone should be out there camping and protesting the system, it’s me.  The difference is, I’m a grown up.  I don’t believe the Fairness Fairy is going to come along and evenly divide all the money in the country.   That’s why I went out and got another part time job where I’m scrambling to get every hour I can to help pay my mortgage and hydro and keep a roof over my daughter’s head and keep her in college.

Everywhere I go, I see help wanted signs.  Is there some reason you can’t take one of those jobs instead of joining the walking waste of skin which is the occupy movement?  I’ll grant they don’t pay as well as your chosen field, but I bet they pay better than the Occupy Idiocy people do.  I’m getting that if you did get an actual job, you might have better things to with your free time than camp in a public park and say stupid things to the press.

As for the other half of this debacle, the NCC needs to get it’s act together and deal with this now.  I realize that in our media centric society you have to be very careful not to be perceived as trampling their democratic rights.  The short version is, they should never have been allowed to set up tents in the first place.  Sure they have a right to freedom of speech and peaceful protest.  I’m all for those things so let them have at it.  What they don’t have a right to do is build a tent camp on public property.  I understand that sometimes the squeaky wheel get the oil, but I think this one just needs to be removed.  Their squeak is really getting on my nerve.

Cheers, Winston

Finally Forza

On By WinstonIn Personal, Pop Culture, Video GamesLeave a comment

So I’ve finally gotten around to playing Forza 3. I know it’s the previous generation, but that’s what my budget supports right now.

I didn’t have an Xbox360 when this came out and by the time I got one, my driving time was taken up with GT 5 on the PS3. It turns out to have been worth the wait. Many hours and hundreds of virtual miles later, there is one inescapable conclusion.

It’s a really good thing I don’t drive in the real world.

Cheers, Winston

Occupational Demands

On By WinstonIn Media, Personal Responsibility, Politics, Pop Culture, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

Usually, I try not to write about the same thing two days in a row. This isn’t my fault though. If the Occupy the Media people would just shut up, I could move on peacefully. Instead, they are talking about maybe issuing demands.

Really? Demands? Who do they think they are? What right do they have to make demands on anyone let alone everyone.

I know they claim to be the ninety-nine percent, but even they can’t be stupid enough to actually believe that. Or can they? Well, it seems they can. Wait, maybe I’m being too harsh. Maybe stupid isn’t the right word. Maybe delusional would fit better…. Nope. Stupid it is.

It’s ridiculous, but it started me thinking. Why would this tiny little group of people think the rest of the world should listen to their demands? The answer of course is the world we live in. My theory goes something like this:

We live in a brand driven society. Elections aren’t about platforms, they’re about personality and name recognition. Advertisements substitute product information for celebrities, flashy visuals and are often unrelated to the product being advertised. Celebrities use their fame and name recognition to try and shape public policy as though singing or acting has given some insight denied to us mere mortals.

Combine this with reality media which imply that everyone is secretly a celebrity or a potential business success or otherwise just one video away from fame and it all makes sense. If being a media brand is all it takes, then of course they think their demands should be acted on. The media has taken to referring to them as Occupiers. As soon as they started capitalizing that word, it became a brand and gave them the same social credibility as other pop media brands. Brands such as Bono (0%), Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie (0.03%), or Michael Moore (-300%).

It’s that assumed credibility that creates the delusion of grandeur to which they have succumbed. The media refers to them as the 99% and it reinforces their idea that they really represent all these other people. The fact is they don’t. I’ll tell you why they don’t.

The real ninety-nine percent didn’t vote for them. In our society, we vote for people to represent us. I didn’t vote for them, and neither did anyone else. They need to stop saying they represent us, and the media needs to stop reinforcing that misinformation. Which is funny because the Occupado folks love talking about corporate or government misinformation, but are not so strident when the error is in their favor.

The good news in all of this is the probable timeline. The campers are so fragmented that after two months, they still haven’t decided if they have demands. If they do have demands, they haven’t been able to decide what they are. If they figure out what the demands are, they aren’t sure if they should go public with them. At the current rate and with their “organizational structure” their grandkids may actually produce a working draft for consideration by future generations.

In the meantime, thousands are expected to flood Wall Street to celebrate the two month anniversary of the movement. The plan is to obstruct and delay workers on their way at those evil banks and such. Just out of curiosity, how does their right to free assembly trump these people’s right to go to work and support their families? But that’s not the way Occupied mind works. The unOccupied mind is a much simpler creature. Occupiers are good and therefore whatever they do must be right. Banks and those who work for them are bad keeping them from doing what they do is good.

For my money, the police and civic authorities have a responsibility to ensure the workers can get to work unhindered. The only surprise would involve them siding with the public instead of the alleged protesters. I think it would be cool if the bankers showed up for work carrying signs saying, ” The Pandering Stops Here!”.

They should be allowed to protest too.

Cheers, Winston