Star Wars Analysis by Neal Stephenson

Over at the NY Times: Turn On, Tune In, Veg Out

The first “Star Wars” movie 28 years ago was distinguished by healthy interplay between veg and geek scenes. In the climactic sequence, where rebel fighters attacked the Death Star, we repeatedly cut away from the dogfights and strafing runs – the purest kind of vegging-out material – to hushed command bunkers where people stood around pondering computer displays, geeking out on the strategic progress of the battle.
All such content – as well as the long, beautiful, uncluttered shots of desert, sky, jungle and mountain that filled the early episodes – was banished in the first of the prequels (“Episode I: The Phantom Menace,” 1999). In the 16 years that separated it from the initial trilogy, a new universe of ancillary media had come into existence. These had made it possible to take the geek material offline so that the movies could consist of pure, uncut veg-out content, steeped in day-care-center ambience. These newer films don’t even pretend to tell the whole story; they are akin to PowerPoint presentations that summarize the main bullet points from a much more comprehensive body of work developed by and for a geek subculture.

There’s something about this article that got me thinking about the Metaverse from Stephenson’s classic, Snow Crash. About how Julia became more famous than the rest of the programming team because she worked on the faces of the avatars inhabiting the Metaverse, to which peopled turned out paying most attention.
Or the way the barons of bandwidth and media controlled the seething masses… It’s happening right before your eyes, at this very moment! Run away!

Luc Besson is a fucking sell out

I mean, is the guy hard up for cash, or what? I sure as hell couldn’t forgive him back in 1994 for whoring Nikita out to Hollywood for an effortlessly crapalicious remake starring Bridget Fonda, and titled, most appropriately, “Point of No Return” (presumably referring to the instant a person bought a ticket to see this shitfest at the theater). But now he’s really gone and done it with the US remake of his car-action masterpiece, Taxi.
For fuck’s sake, this is the movie that inspired me to request a white Peugeot 406 at Charles De Gaulle airport (and do multiple doughnuts in the parking lot in protest when all they had was a turbocharged Opel Vectra)! This is the movie that prompted me to drive from Mimizan to San Sebastian at the speed of holy shit! and make people in the backseat gasp quite audibly! In exhilaration, no doubt! And pass several cops on the way! After having a nice breakfast of wine and sangria!
…OK, maybe you should not see this movie if you like driving.
…And you definitely do not want to see the Hollywood remake of it. Unless your idea of a fast car is a Ford Crown Victoria, that is. I shit you not, in Taxi:NYC (its title overseas), the white 406 is replaced by a yellow Crown Vic. With blowers and a bunch of other shit copied from the original movie which can apparently enable a Crown Vic to outrun a custom BMW 760. Um, no. This movie, this premise, is just wrong. WRONG I SAY! DAMN YOU LUC BESSON! A POX ON YOU AND THE MERDE THAT FILLS YOUR VERY BEING! MAY A THOUSAND UNSHAVED FEMALE ARMPITS BEAR AUSPICIOUS LICE TO FILL YOUR LYING MOUTH!
Also:
FREEDOM FRIES, MOTHERFUCKER!

I am a Molam Singer

My fiane is currently finishing her doctorate at Osaka University in the field of linguistics, which we both studied at Tenri University. She is writing her dissertation about Molam (alternatively spelled, “Morlum,” or, “Mawlum”) which is a traditional form of Northeast Thai singing, originally from Laos. I’ve been translating excerpts and summaries into English (from Japanese) for her along the way, and have really gotten interested in the actual music while looking for what’s available online for her.
I discovered that most interesting aspect of this music for me is that it sounds a lot like rap! It’s hard to explain? But there are definitely some similarities in the verse and song structure there. And while turning on some of the Molam grooves today to get in the mood for another translation Nam asked me to do, I decided to learn a freestyle verse that sounds particularly hip-hop?
I’ve been working on Nam’s translation for four hours now, and I’ve only done two lines, mainly because I’ve been trying to memorize this one particular Molam verse and it’s driving me crazy:
Soi Soi / lao phi nong fang Soi /
Phen bo khao baan phen / go tang khao baan to /
So baan to / go tang to baan phen /
Jang bo khao baan phen / go tang khao baan to /
Pro waa roa yuu khon la baan

I’m doing some serious tongue-twisting here. Knowing quite well that I sound like a retarded campuchean goat while practicing this out loud, I pretend not to hear Nam yelling at me to stop in the background. I WILL get this down. Because I am destined to be the King of Thai Country Groove.
More later, if Nam doesn’t kill me.

Uniformly Wrong

Gatson came by the house last night to install the English version of MS Project, and he told me about our new work uniforms, which we will be issued around the end of the month and have to wear from July 1st. I came into work today and confirmed the new design with the other guys in the office:
– Pink shirts with red collars
– Light green pants
An alternative title for this post is, “The REAL Reason I’m Leaving This Job and Country.”
Apparently there is a leak at our company at a higher level, because they are ripping this decision to threads over at 2ch. Pretty funny shit, but it would be a lot funnier if it were happening to someone else…
BTW, there’s still no news about which board member’s fashion school dropout nephew designed this abortion of a color scheme.

Blame the Gaijin

Another reason I’m definitely leaving Japan next year: Japan to have all foreigners carry IC cards for crime control

The LDP and the government claim the new policy is aimed at keeping track of foreigners as part of measures to prevent terrorism and crimes.

Well, it might be especially effective if they decide to embed RFID chips to enable remote scanning. I can just imagine all Japanese police cruisers equipped with gaijin detectors on the dashboard. Perhaps they can include a dye packet and/or taser function to help out, as well.
I imagine this also has to do with the recent spate of counterfeiting and identity thefts – I’m told that stolen gaijin cards can be sold for 20,000 yen in minami, no questions asked, and that a fake one can be purchased from around 70,000.
The most intrusive part of the new plan that they are admitting to lies here:

Holders will be required to report any change of address and obtain permission to change jobs.

As if it’s not tough enough to get a job as it is now, in a couple of years you’ll have to obtain permission from the government first.
Hey look, in the opening paragraph of the article, they used the words “Japanese government” and “intelligence center” in the same sentence! Why does the government have to be such a pain in the ass and go so far out of their way to be oppressive? Is this payback for doing away with the mandatory fingerprinting of gaijin or something? All I have to say is, sayonara suckers.

Resurrection

I decided to check around on some of my favorite “dead” sites – ones that people quit updating some time ago due to job issues, necrophilia rehab, deep vein thrombosis, etc. – and was most pleasantly surprised, inspired even, in fact, let me ask you this:
If a retarded kid falls in the forest, does it make a slapping sound?
SHE’S BACK.