No Country For Old Men

I love both the novel and the faithful film adaptation of No Country For Old Men. On the surface (and a number of my friends seem unable to get beyond that surface), it's a brutal film about a ruthless, heartless assassin who goes after a guy who stumbles upon a great big bag of drug money. The sheriff goes after that assassin, even as the drug dealers and assassin go after poor Llewelyn Moss. Of course, since just about everyone who's intended to watch/read this story already have, I'll just spoil the story: Llewelyn dies in the end, and the assassin gets away. There. I did it.

Now, I find the story is really quite a tragic commentary about our times. It seems easy to think of Llewelyn as the somewhat dishonest but otherwise innocent common folk, the sheriff Ed Tom as the good guy and Anton Chigurh the assassin as the baddie. However, of all the characters, I find Chigurh the most fascinating. He is not so much evil, as he is purely rule-driven. Ed Tom is the helpless old timer who reminisces of the good old days, but ultimately he's a broken man who cannot face up to the realities of a society going morally downhill. Llewelyn is just really quite a sideshow in that he just wants to get away with his money, and is ruthless in his own selfish money-loving ways.

While Ed Tom laments how things have turned ugly and simply gives up pursuing Chigurh in the end because he realizes that he's facing a force he simply could not defeat, Chigurh holds strong to his rules all the way to the end. Chigurh operates in a simple logic: He gets the job done. To get the job done, he kills anyone who gets in the way of his job. However, sometimes some people are in the way, but may or may not adversely affect the execution of the task, so Chigurh may or may not kill those people. To decide that, he does one of two things: flip a coin, or if he's sure the person will keep quiet, have the person swear to silence.

I think it is easy to assume that Chigurh is evil precisely because he's such a rule follower. Yet there seems to be little malice in what he does. He does not kill someone just because they're annoying (there's one lady in the story who was, but he did not kill her because she was not a significant impediment and because it was more trouble than she's worth). He does not kill out of hatred (Llewelyn threatens Chigurh at one point). I think he is disturbing and labeled evil simply because he has no emotional investment whatsoever in that killing. In a way, perhaps, he is something like Spock. And perhaps people have really hard times with characters like that: they are...alien.

A Strong Military

The mighty military is a critical factor to deal with global warming. As we all know, global warming is a horrible, horrible problem. The global temperatures rise, making everyone feel mighty uncomfortable, and killing some people and plants and animals while it's at it. The polar ice caps will melt, causing the sea levels to rise. The rising sea levels will cause available land to shrink, and flood many food producing fields into oblivion. There will be famine, population pressures and yes...war. Not to mention irreversible climate change.

Now, let us avoid this really nasty scenario. Everyone shall now cut production, stop making new babies and really...just consume less in general. Maybe that will help with the carbon emissions, other greenhouse gases and perhaps stop global warming. Maybe. Or maybe not. But either way, nobody seems very happy about doing all that on a maybe. What they do know is that the world's heating up and they don't wana lose out to everyone else.

The good news is that the earth finds its own equilibrium at one point or another. The bad news is that humanity may be badly screwed as a result. But that's ok, because the earth will be fine. So now we know that we're on a nice merry one way trip to warfare hell, and we need to be ready. We need stronger militaries. The mightier the better. Why, some may ask? Before shooting them, inform them that that's exactly how we're gona take the land from them so they die but we survive. Might. Makes. Right. Man I love equilibrium.

Those Precious Shrew Dodgers

I love watching the reactions of humans. Especially around rodents. The reaction is fascinating precisely because of the aversion showed despite the patent harmlessness of the said creature. It's small, fuzzy and...probably spreads disease. No more than any other mammal might however, so that's probably not a defining rodent trait.

Now, when I was on my way home with my mom, we noticed a dead shrew in the middle of a walkway. Someone probably stepped on it and killed it on the spot. Poor creature. Nonetheless, I figured it would be an interesting opportunity in observing human reactions, so I had mom stand around to watch the reactions of others when they saw the poor creature.

A pair of schoolgirls approached and noticed the shrew. They paused. After chittering somewhat in alarm, they mutually decided to gingerly tiptoe past on the extreme edges of the pavement so as to maintain maximum distance from the rodent.

Another girl came by, noticed the shrew, then promptly switched to a different path to go where she intended.

Yet another noticed the body, then walked past it as if nothing happened. Pure win!

The Earth Was Cold

Sometimes we ponder weighty things. Things like…what’s the meaning of life? Why are we here? I would propose that life simply had no meaning, and that it was quite the accident, but that’s not gona sit well with too many people. So let’s consider an alternative: The earth created humans.

Yup. Great, guys. You now have a purpose. You were created…and life now has meaning. What meaning might that be, you ask? The earth was cold. Goodness…what a silly sort of reason, many might think. But one also needs to be humble and remember that one cannot comprehend the infinite wisdom of the earth. The earth had darned good reasons for doing what it did.

The evidence is clear. The earth is cold and was cold. There are polar ice caps, and there was an ice age sometime in the past. Cold cold cold. Then the earth decided to create humans. Humans help by inducing global warming, though they are thoroughly convinced they’re living their “lives”, whatever that might mean. Obviously, the humans have managed to fulfill their purpose. Why? Well…they’re still alive, are they not? The earth would have wiped them out ages ago if that were not the case.

There we have it. Purpose for living. And faith that one day, global warming will kill all humans, or the earth will. It all works out. And don’t worry…the world will do just fine without all the pesky humans on it.

Inglourious Basterds

What can I say. This show is a Tarantino, with all that entails. Violence, black humor, inappropriately humorous moments, loads of graphic gore. The usual fare. While some will beg differ about this show because of its lack of moral depth, not being Jewish enough, etc etc, I am weighing this show on its entertainment value. And that value, in my opinion, is exceptionally high.

I dare say that Hans Landa totally stole the show for this one. Arguably, he's The Bastard, while everyone else are mere Basterds. There is something to a highly refined, sharp, witty and downright cruel Nazi who really is nowhere near as crude as the good ole Basterds. Of course, there is always something to a bunch of soldiers going around terrorizing poor ground pounders with reputations like...The Bear Jew.

For once, this show is not one that has its moments. The show is one long long 2 1/2h moment. In a good way. I especially liked Shosanna, that gorgeous lady with an iron will. There was a scene in the show featuring her, that seemed like something torn straight out of a noir film. A well-executed one, at that.

Heck, even the swastika-carving trope was pretty much as good as the Joker's face scar gag back in Batman. Truly, this is a memorable show, though the ending is perhaps quite surprising for those familiar with history. Of course, we did not quite come to watch a documentary. Nonetheless, the show gets a nice solid 9/10 from me.

STALKER: Clear Sky

Once in a while it's entirely possible to encounter a game that looks great in the early stages, and quickly turns out to be one that's been rushed to market from midgame onwards. Clear Sky is one such game.

At first glance, it is a truly atmospheric game. A total graphical revamp over its predecessor. The graphics are stunning, the levels and familiar areas simply look better than they used to, and hell...they even threw in the really nice idea of lethal Zone energy emissions, which one needs to dodge in order to stay alive. Now that is how (sucky) life in the Zone really ought to be.

Then comes the minor niggles. Bullet ballistics seem just wrong...the guns are somewhat underpowered. Then it turns out you can quicksave while nowhere near a safe area while an emission is coming, theoretically preventing game progress as you load a game moments before the emission kills you. Better yet, you're the only one hiding, because for some reason every other soldier can ignore the darned things. Oh, and did I mention that the safe zone could (unfortunately) be in the middle of an enemy base? Well...if the emission doesn't get you, the enemies probably would. Blagh.

Right, then comes the ending. The levels towards the end become somewhat...troublesome. Few stores are available for resupply and dumping off looted equipment. Your armor's probably torn to shreds at this point, and it's really a pain to get back to some base a few maps away. Then comes the clincher: The finale is one long and meaningless firefight.

Now, I am generally pretty happy with firefights. They're pretty exciting on average and can be quite fun. It just gets old when it becomes a series of clear the area of enemies, followed by clear the area of enemies, followed by clear the area of enemies, then we give you new gun and ammo, so shoot the final dude!

That one really sucked. For one, there's a carrying weight limit in the game. I don't know why I suddenly have a really nifty gun and ammo, but then 'coz of the weight limit...I can't actually move. Better yet, enemies are happily shooting at me. That sucks. Well...since everyone's shooting at me...who am I supposed to kill, again? Unlike the first STALKER, this one really really took the fun out of the ending. No alternative endings, nobody's really sure why I gota take the guy out, and it really took me a while to figure what I was supposed to do with the sucker. Way to kill a game that had so much potential. They should outlaw games rushed to market. :s

A Great Day

Today will go down in Fenrisian history as a great day. One of the great days amongst great days, but a great day nonetheless. As is traditional, every other less great day of great days will be less desirable than this one, so I can safely bet that someday will not be quite as great and thus perpetuate the myth of...well...jinxing when talking about great days.

But that is irrelevant. I must first record what greatness happened on this great day of greatness. First, and most important to me, I bought a flash unit. Not just any flash unit. The high end wireless capable version that I've been drooling over. Now, being the stereotypical student photographer wanabe on a budget, I really couldn't go right out there and buy the danged thing. Simply beyond my means. So I settled for second best: A secondhand flash, only that it's the wireless-incapable version of it. But when I met the seller...it turns out he only had the higher end one. The mind boggled. How much? Only a bit more. SOLD! And now, by sheer accident...here the flash is. It is...beautiful.

The second is comparatively minor, but no less important. My thesis research has finally been approved. That means I can finally get to work on the data collection process, though at this point my data collection's already complete. Oh wait. Well, at least they did approve the latest version of my questionnaire, which I slipped to them. Ok I did not just say that. I totally played by the book, for it is the Fenrisian way.

Right, then. And then my friend's package arrived. At least a notice of the package. I'm not sure what it is, so I'll reserve irrationally intense joy for that fine moment tomorrow.

Unlife...is...good...

Final Fantasy Tactics A2

I was playing Final Fantasy Tactics A2 on my DS for a couple days, and I think I know what it is that really irks me about the game: Lose conditions (laws) that are not directly controlled by the player. FFTA2 has an interesting gameplay system carrying over from the previous version. In a battle, players are required to adhere to certain "laws", which may be something like...you can't use fire, lightning or ice weapons/spells in the battle.

At first glance, FFTA2 improved on the previous game with the graphics, and from making the game more forgiving when you break those laws. That is, until I realized that they added new laws in. It's understandable that the laws can force you into a certain style of gameplay (that's where Tactics come in: reconfiguring your characters) but some laws are just stupid.

For example, there is a law against targeting distant units. Well that's easy. I'll simply not equip ranged weapons and refrain from casting spells. Or at least doing so while directly adjacent to an enemy. Until you realize that a critical hit knocks an enemy back by one cell, so you're counted to have targeted a distant unit simply by having a random critical (a good thing, usually). Ok that's annoying enough. Then you realize that some enemies can confuse or charm your characters, causing them to act randomly or otherwise attack your own characters. That means that Mage over there will likely cast Fire on one of your own guys, while standing far away. Oops...that means the law's broken, too. There's another law that's like this: No knockback. Same drill with the criticals.

I think these design hiccups are quite sufficient to destroy the enjoyment of an otherwise really polished game. I love the new graphics, the transition between lands is smoother and basically everything else is really nicer than the older version. Something to take note of, I guess, as the recurring problem of the laws can really ruin one's day.