Attack of the Killer Jellyfish

When I was diving in Australia off the Queensland coast, we all sort of lived in fear/awe of the Irukandji jellyfish – tiny, transparent jellyfish whose venom can kill purely from the extreme pain it inflicts. Worrying stuff indeed. Luckily, jellyfish stings find it hard to get through any sort of material so in our wetsuits we were relatively safe.

Danger Jellyfish Sign by Matt Hobbs

Now its seems more of us will be at risk from swarms of these jellyfish as they migrate around the world in search of food. In a new film, cinematographers trace the path of these surprisingly intelligent and well defended animals as they head away from their traditional areas and foray for new food sources. Beautiful but unnerving, this is one film everyone who dives (and swims) should probably watch.

RFID Tag Technology Suffering from Excessive ‘Cute’

The BBC has an article today about the evolution of RFID tags. They can now hold more complex information than simple product bar codes and people are doing increasingly clever things to enable normal household goods to interact over the internet. One example of this is Nabaztag wi-fi rabbit, a cute gizmo that can read RFID tags and communicate with the internet. Now some book publishers are adding RFID tags to their books, so that when the book is waved in front of the rabbit it starts to ‘read’ the book out loud – well, stream a recording of it being read from the internet anyway. Cute. But that’s not all. It seems the Rabbit, which according to the website is ‘good for lovers’ (coff), has a PR guy whose last name is Kitten. Maybe this is just a coincidence, or maybe the sinister Rabbit Corp forces every staff member to change their names to be cute just like their product… Hmm… if I ever join them I’d be Mr Fluffy.

End of the Montel Era

It looks like long term daytime talkshow host Montel Williams is calling it a day. This hits a personal note for me as at Fountain Mobile we ran Montel’s first ever series of text message campaigns, so we got to go see the filming of a show a few year’s back. Looked pretty strange having a line of folks in business suits amidst the usual throngs, but they ‘hid’ us underneath a camera boom so we probably weren’t in the broadcast that much. Never did see it though.

Movie Review: Molière

Molière is a French period movie set in the 17th Century and starring the wonderful Romain Duris, puppy eyed lead from The Spanish Apartment (L’Auberge Espagnol). The story follows the life of the French actor and playwright Molière through a period of his life that historians don’t know much about, imagining what happened based on his own plays. So Molière gets thrown in debtor’s gaol in Paris, only to be rescued by a rich benefactor, Monsieur Jourdain, who wants to learn the fine art of acting in order to impress a woman he’s fallen in love with. Taken out to the country we meet the other players in this act, Jourdain’s wife and daughters, and members of the French royal court – nicely setting off the beauty of the sets with their internal ugliness.

Molière is a great movie, deep, visually stunning, yet hugely funny and moving. Romain is at times dark and brooding, then generous and funny, and all fully fleshed out by his highly talented portrayal of a complex character. Definately a must see, even if you’re not a great fan of sub-titles. Read my full review of Molière here.

Happy 50th Anniversary Lego!

Well thanks to Google and today’s hella cute logo, I just found out that today is the 50th anniversary of the Lego brick. Wow. To me Lego is one of those things that is ‘just there and always has been’, and since it hasn’t really changed since its conception (unlike television sets) it seems like a very real part of the world. At least that means I’m not that old… When we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iPod then I’ll be upset!

Oh, and my favorite Lego? Well that has to be the Star Wars Snow Speeder – original edition. Whoever came up with the genius idea of mixing Lego and Star Wars should get a frikkin’ medal or something. Or at least a bonus.

Movies: The Fountain & Mighty Wind

A movie night last night, starting with Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Fountain’, filmed here in Montreal three years ago, and Mighty Wind.

The Fountain got mixed reviews which stopped me seeing it in the cinema, and after Requiem for a Dream Aronofsky had a lot to live up to, and having watched it I can see why – it’s not easy going, and not a cheerful, Hollywood movie that’s for sure – but then when are Aronofsky’s movies ever like that? Cut to the chase – the movie is stunning in places, dramatically wrenching and beautiful with some great acting. So I highly recommend it to everyone.

Onto Mighty Wind, another ensemble comedy piece from the team behind Best in Show and the folks from Spinal Tap. With those credentials you would expect some laugh out loud faux documentary moments and it doesn’t disappoint there, however overall the film left me un-satisfied. Mighty Wind seems to lack any real drama and just meanders along like a folk Spinal Tap that only goes to 6, not 11. There is some standout acting in there but don’t expect too much.

You can read my more detailed reviews here: Mighty Wind and The Fountain.