Not sure why an external force - aliens - has to be evoked in order to describe humanity's command of technology. Given human history, technology, and the adaptive and innovative use of it is humanity's default. The improbable thing would be our lack of it, rather than the alien's giving it to us.
Also have to wonder when the action movie will become
passe. It seems character development and drama is now done within the framework of a forty five minute car chase. This movie went on for thirty minutes too long for that reason and could have done without Tarzan and all the helper monkeys.
I don't have a TV so I don't watch shows that appear on HBO and people asking me about "Flight of the Concorde" is often lost on me. The
Creative Class argues that most people under 30 watch TV via their computer rather than through cable or free to air. Rather they watch video on their schedules, not the broadcasters. Alex Tapscott writes:
Most, however, choose to tailor their TV schedule around their lives, not the other way around. That means using the Internet
Not having a TV has meant I have fallen entirely out of modern mass broadcasting media. I don't know what the 'hot' shows are nor the major movies. Advertising literally does not reach me. Tonight my partner and I were looking for a movie to watch through iTunes; I had no idea what as cool, hot, happening, new or what. In the end we rented Ricky Gervias' Ghost Town. But not having a TV means you probably don't watch TV through NBC or vieo anyway simply because the advertising has no mechanism to visit your eyeballs or ears. You fall off the mass media's plane entirely.
We rarely watch movies, and when we do it is normally through either iTunes or Netflix. It is exceptionally difficult to find new movies on their websites or applications as they mix in the movies that are new to their service - which might be from the 1980s and not new at all.
Netflix has a better web interface than iTunes. The latter has tiny thumbnails of the movie when you are searching which is useless. It is like Zappos which gives as much space to a text description of the shoe as they do a picture of the shoe itself. Victoria Secret does that style of web selling much better by having large pictures of the clothes in the search.
Consequently it is very difficult to find a movie to watch quickly when you are browsing in 'what should we watch' mode. It is ok if you know what you want to see, a quick search will most likely find it, but trying to browse like you would in an old brick and mortar Video Rental Store is almost impossible.
I saw the Hurt Locker last weekend. Definitely a very tense movie. It was interesting to see
what pracs thought of the movie; "The main character, Sgt James, just isn't believable. He is reckless, in a job where reckless would get you (and probably those around you) killed. And the censure of your superiors and colleagues."
We watched
The Square last night. The thick Sydney brogue came fastly and softly enough in numerous situations that my American wife asked me to translate. As a lapsed Sydney-sider turned American I could not understand them either. Australian films probably need sub titles as the default.
Most Popular on South Sea Republic
The articles that have been viewed the most:
Most Popular Restaurants in Phoenix
Phoenix Eats Out is the restaurant review site for
Phoenix,
Scottsdale and
Old Town Scottsdale which lists the modernist and contemporary restaurants, taverns and bars in the greater Phoenix area.
This is the list of the most popular restaurants pages from phoenixeatsout.com that have been viewed the most;
My personal favourite restaurants in Phoenix are
AZ88,
Postinos,
Bomberos with
Grazie,
Humble Pie,
Orange Table,
The Vig,
Fez and others coming close behind. View the complete list with the photo-journalistic style images on
phoenixeatsout.com
Most Popular Hikes in Arizona
Arizona is an outdoor state and has lots of hiking in the city and around the state. Phoenix is unusual for most cities in having several large mountains in the center of the city with great hiking. Anyone who comes to Phoenix has to do the
Echo Canyon trail on Camelback and the
Summit Hike on Squaw Peak or Piesta Peak. The views of the city, suburbs and surrounding mountains are wonderful from Camelback and Piesta Peak.
For more experienced hikers there is the McDowell Mountains in North Scottsdale that has several difficult and strenuous hikes in
Tom's Thumb and
Bell Pass. Alternatively, you can hike the highest mountain in Arizona. At 12,600 feet
Humphrey's Peak is a long and difficult hike.
Alternate Australian Constitutions
Between 2004 and 2009 this site,
southsearepublic.org, was a constitutional blog based on scoop which focused on Australian and global constitutional issues.
One of the strongest aspects of it was the development of constitutions by those involved in the blog. These constitutions are the outcome:
The constitutions were built using principles from Montesquieu's separation of powers, the enlightnment's universal political rights and the ancient Athenian technology of sortition and choice by lot.
Archives For South Sea Republic
South Sea Republic started in 2004 as an Australian constitutional blog in 2004 based on scoop software. It was an immigrative outgrowth of Kuro5hin. The archives for each year since then;
The articles are ordered by views.
Who Is Cam Riley
I am an Australian living in the United States as a permanent resident.
I am a software developer by trade and mostly work in Java and jump between middleware and front end.
I originally worked in the New York area of the United States in telecommunications before moving to Washington DC and
working in a mix of telecommunications, energy and ITS. I started my own software company before heading out to
Arizona and working with Shutterfly. Since then I have joined a startup in the Phoenix area and am thoroughly enjoying myself.
I do a lot of photography which I post on this website, but also on flickr. I have a photo-journalistic website which lists
the modernist and contemporary restaurants in phoenix. I have a site on the
Australian Flying Corps [AFC] which has been around since the 1990s and which I unfortunately
lost the .org URL to during a life event; however, it is under the
www.australianflyingcorps.com URL now.
The AFC website has gone through several iterations since the 90s and the two most recent are
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2004-2002) and
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2002-1999) which are good places to start.
Websites Worth Reading
Websites of friends, colleagues and of interest;
