Dance of the dead

Since I don't seem to have anything more interesting to offer lately besides entertaining/nauseating little video clips, here's another choice selection to help you celebrate Halloween in style. This guy's really pretty good.

No hollerin' back here

Rarely can 3 minutes and 35 seconds teach us crucial lessons about ourselves and those from other cultural backgrounds, but a highly educational and nuanced video entitled "Curry-n-rice girl" manages to do just that. Watch and marvel as Ludakrishna and Vikram MC poetically encapsulate the complex feelings of familial allegiance and personal quests for fulfillment.

Why would anyone ever need to introduce me to this?

This is SOOOOOO freaky. As it was presented to me:

This is spooky. Read the information below before viewing the clip.
Strange but interesting. This is a car advertisement from Great Britain.
When they finished filming the ad, the film editor noticed something moving along the side of the car, like a ghostly white mist. They found out that a person had been killed a year earlier in that exact same spot.

The ad was never put on TV because of the unexplained ghostly phenomenon. Watch the front end of the car as it clears the trees in the middle of the screen and you'll see the white mist crossing in front of the car then following it along the road....Spooky!

Is it a ghost, or is it simply mist? You decide. If you have the sound up a little, you'll even hear the cameraman whispering in the background about it near the end of the commercial.

Now go check out the commercial HERE. Look close, because the resolution is a bit hazy and listen for the bewildered cameraman.

Electronic Pumpkin Carving

This is way too cool to pass up. I carved the Hagia Sophia.

A public service announcement from way out...

What do you tell someone when they ask you what you're doing next Tuesday evening, October 25th? Obviously, you tell them that you're heading over to NW 17th in DC (which might require a rather lengthy flight for some) and checking out the Drag Queen Races. Come watch as I parade others parade their flamboyant glamour for the world to see followed by a mad-dash down 17th. It's a great way to get inspired to exercise during the cold, grey winter months by observing the finest examples of she-male physique. See the 'other' you there.

Truth be told?

In Salman Rushdie's latest work, Shalimar the Clown, Rushdie forwards a theory-that's probably already popular in some circles-regarding JFK's assassination through one of the characters in the book:

The date is 1965. The place is India. A Kashmiri beauty seduces the recently appointed US ambassador to India, Max Ophuls, with her entrancing dance at a festival honoring the diplomat's visit north. As with all Ophuls' lustful conquests, he turns to his loyal assistant, Beaver Wood, to organize an opportunity for Max and Boonyi (the dancer) to, ummmm, 'meet'. Beaver replies with an unexpected question and comment:

"Do you have a bad back?.....because too much sex and a bad back is what got the president assassinated".

Through Wood, Rushdie continues:

"The truss, sir," Wood explained. "Kennedy's back was bad to begin with, but it got so much worse because of all the screwing around that he had to wear the truss all the time. He was wearing it in Dallas and that's why he didn't fall over after the first shot hit him. he was wounded and lurched over and the truss just sat him up again, boing, and then the second bullet blew off the back of his head. You see what i'm saying, Professor, maybe if he'd had less sex, he maybe wouldn't have been wearing the truss, and then no boing, he'd just have fallen flat after being wounded; the first bullet wasn't fatal, remember, and he wouldn't have been as they say available for the second shot, and Johnson wouldn't be president. There's a moral in there somewhere, I guess, but as you don't have a bad back, Professor, it doesn't apply to you."

Did promiscuity kill Kennedy? Does anyone with a bad back understand the moral here?

Is this common knowledge?

1. Go to Google's homepage
2. Type in "Failure"
3. Perform a web-search
4. Check out what Google spits out as the first result
   

ganGREnous test issued vital medicine

First of all, if you’re just tuning back in, go check out my photos from Europe (but don’t use the “view as slideshow” option…make me feel like you care what I have to say and read my captions under the photos).

Now to the point: a year from this month, in October 2006, the Graduate Record Exam (GRE)-that purported barometer of how students will perform in graduate school-will undergo a major facelift. According to the Times' interview with the executive director of the GRE program,

On the new exams, the verbal reasoning section will consist of two 40-minute sections rather than one 30-minute section, and will place less emphasis on vocabulary and more on higher cognitive skills...The quantitative reasoning section will grow from one 45-minute section to two 40-minute sections, with fewer geometry questions and more on interpreting tables and graphs. And the analytical writing measure, which had a 45-minute essay and a 30-minute essay, will now have two 30-minute essays.

I openly embrace these changes. Although this remark will surely inspire many grumbles, I think the test needs to be longer. When you’re only given 30 minutes to prove your adeptness in verbal reasoning and 45 in quantitative pursuits, it seems a trip or a slip could really damage your score. By increasing the number of questions, the severity of such slips diminishes and a greater understanding of the student’s abilities surfaces.

I can personally attest to this because I took the GRE at the end of September when a virtual avalanche of both personal and professional pressures amounted. After running from work to the testing center, I mistakenly thought myself at peace and prepared to test. Near the end of the initial writing section, and especially in the following quantitative part, the pressures I’d warded off for a few minutes came barreling back. A crippling anxiety attack ensued that literally paralyzed me mentally. I only bring it up here because I find it pertinent to my argument. The time constriction and tiny opportunity to prove my abilities intensified the pressures once they surfaced and magnified what should have been a brief period of anxiety into something devastating; there was no time to recover. The new GRE formula promises that such crises could be averted by promising students ample opportunity to amend a 5-minute mental lapse. By no means do I consider myself alone in facing these exterior burdens when testing; therefore, I think many others would support an extension of the GRE’s breadth, as well. Although the GRE by no means constitutes the only, or even the most important criteria (and, it shouldn’t) upon which graduate schools will measure a student, it nevertheless does bear some importance. Therefore, students should have adequate opportunity to demonstrate their abilities [ps. I took the test the following week after a breath of fresh air and the differences between the two testing sessions was night and day-if this happens to anyone else inane enough to schedule under such circumstances, don’t worry, just take it again].

Aside from the length, the nature of the questions needs attention. I transformed into a lab rat and took ETS's experimental verbal section after concluding my test and found the questions much more meaningful. As mentioned above, the present questions emphasize vocabulary WAY too much and often preclude test-takers from utilizing enough critical thinking to effectively reason towards a solution if they don't know the definition of some esoteric word. This should be about thinking and comprehending, not memorizing vocabulary. Don't get me wrong, I love words and often find more interesting words capable of conveying more interesting thoughts. But that's certainly not always true and a big words don't necessarily make you smart. ETS way overexaggerates their import. The newer questions address that point effectively, in my opinion.

Another welcome change is ETS’s decision to dispose of “computer adaptive” testing. In essence, if you answer a question correctly, the computer spits out a more difficult question the next time. If you answer incorrectly, the computer gives an ‘easier’ follow-up question. According to ETS’s philosophy, the computer eventually narrows in on your skill in a particular subject through this trial and error approach.

This presents a number of problems, however. First of all, you could easily find yourself caught in a maelstrom of analysis with the appearance of each subsequent question as you tried to gauge whether it seemed more difficult than the previous question. Considering the inherent pressure already weighing on test takers, this additional psychological burden could easily distract beyond acceptable limits, further compromising the validity of the final score. Furthermore, it removes any nagging arbitrariness in determining the ‘difficulty’ of a particular question. I mean, maybe you got the preceding question wrong and, hence, received an ‘easier’ follow-up question, but who decides whether that follow-up question is really any easier after all? I mean, if your percentage reflects how you tested compared to everyone else, shouldn’t you all answer the same questions?

Finally, out of roughly 30 questions in a section, the initial 10 weigh much heavier in determining your final score because the following 20 questions only serve to refine an already grossly defined score. In other words, mess up on a couple questions early, and your score might not reflect your true abilities. So, for all these reasons, good riddance “computer adaptive” testing.

I also like that “every question on the new exams will be used only once, and the test will start at different times in different time zones, so students who have finished cannot pass on questions to those in different zones.” It was glaringly obvious that if you were fanatical about raising your scores ten or twenty points (maybe even more), you could easily drill friends or find a website chalked full of probable questions.

In long-awaited conclusion, if they’re going to insist on an entrance exam, then why not make it more meaningful. I fully support the revisions planned by ETS to broaden the scope of the GRE and revise the nature of the material.

Ever a vile purpose

Just to clarify for all those who suffered the unenviable fate of looking at my previously posted Euro-fotos without the joys of my narrative, you probably chose the "View as slideshow" option on the Flickr page. As pointed out by elder-brother Long from his mountain sanctuary, that option is evil and professes a dark, barbaric faith that only results in your soul's gangrenous rotting. Please swear an oath this day that you shall never use the "View as slideshow" option again while you tread the dirt of this earth.

10 digital days

Pictures of France, Switzerland, Italy and tales of heroic victory over dastardly designs can all be found RIGHT HERE if you have the courage to look.
Unless you understandably hate my dialogue and wish it silenced, DON'T use the "view as slideshow" option. Instead, just click on the first picture and proceed from there.

Three thoughts

1. Not all European trains are created equal
2. I speak too much English and too little everything else
3. Christmas gluttony makes so much more sense now

field trip

Guess where I'm going...answer.
Guess where else I'm going...who's a genius?
Guess where I'm passing through...nice.
Guess if this is the last question, then guess where else i'm passing through....juicy.

Now i know how much this pains everyone to hear, but alas, I shan't be updating my blog all that often in the next 10 days. I'll try to drop a quick story from some overpriced internet cafe now and then, so keep checking every hour, on the hour.

cheers.

Don't read if you don't want to hear about A History of Violence!

It would be nearly impossible to walk away from David Cronenberg’s compelling new movie A History of Violence without an immediate, visceral reaction. Mine (shocker) was one of disquietude. As the title clearly suggests, the movie pivots around the saga of an ex-crime family thug from Philadelphia (Viggo Mortensen) to explore the ubiquity of violence. Not content to focus exclusively on-although by no means neglectful of-traditional physical violence, Cronenberg incorporates sexual, psychological, and spiritual brutality in this film that never fails to disturb.

Rarely in popular film has such graphic violence persisted throughout a movie, and almost never has the sense of glamorization or dramatization been stripped away to offer a raw glimpse of the aftermath. Music and background noise either disappear or diminish to imperceptibility while the camera unflinchingly captures a bloodied human head with half the jaw utterly torn away compliments of a shotgun. You see maniacal looks, punishing sex, and rampant bloodshed. It’s cold, it’s gruesome, and it’s realistic.

But this wasn’t the kind of violence that made you want to play hero or take a quaff of the tantalizing criminal hedonism. This movie repelled and sobered you, and made you want to vomit. It made you want to call your family just to check in. It made you feel vulnerable, and it made you see others as vulnerable.

Although based on a graphic novel, a genre that always includes elements of exaggeration, the movie verges too close to reality-albeit a distorted, tormented reality-for the viewer to dismiss it as irrelevant. Instead, it’s the underlying truth of the work and revelation of human complexity that makes this film surpass such forgettable caricature.

Many whom I've spoken to since watching the movie found the violence gratuitous. I have to respectfully disagree, however, because I think this violence-all of it-served a point. It reminds us that while we’re capable of creating works of profound beauty, we’re also capable of haunting destruction. The juxtaposition of such antithetical traits, and the denial of a simpler, less convincing reality, makes the film work. In my opinion, instead of neglecting such troubling possibilities, we need films like this to agitate us into maintaining an enlightened sense of humanity.

Aim for the stars, man, but c'mon!

Continuing the theme of the week, which vaguely entails animals acting in strikingly anthromophic ways (weapon-happy/vengeful/idiotic), here's a couple choice excerpts from the latest find:

A 13-foot Burmese python recently burst after it apparently tried to swallow a live, six-foot alligator whole, authorities said.
The incident has heightened biologists' fears that the nonnative snakes could threaten a host of other animal species in the Everglades....

...The snake was found with the gator's hindquarters protruding from its midsection. Mazzotti said the alligator may have clawed at the python's stomach as the snake tried to digest it.
In previous incidents, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw.

An alligator, it swallowed a six-foot long alligator...that was alive! I think natural selection is having its way one moronic python at a time.

Maybe it happened, maybe it didn't....

...your call:

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A Swedish hunter was knocked unconscious after his son shot a flying Canadian goose which then fell onto his head, news agency TT reported Wednesday.

"I guess it wanted revenge," hunter Ulf Ilback told local newspaper Extra Ostergotland, according to TT.

Ilback said he had to stay in bed for two days after being knocked out by the goose, which fell from around 60 feet. The birds can weigh up 13 pounds.

Escalating excitement for everybody

I had an interesting talk with my roommate, Atif, last night about the merits of escalator systems. Atif, a worldly gentleman with an acute interest in urban development, described to me how the Public Transportation system in Kiev, Ukraine contains no such escalators and, instead, utilizes an extended ramp system to facilitate subway riders issuing forth from the train platform to sunlight and vice versa. From the sounds of it, however, the subway trains run essentially directly below the ground. Therefore, although the idea of conserving electricity, encouraging exercise, and simplifying the aesthetic tantalizes the imagination, it simply isn’t practical in every metropolitan area.

DC constitutes one such area where subways cannot always run directly below the ground. Due to gentle, but consistent elevation changes, a meandering creek bed with a steep, deep drop, and the depth of stable ground at some locations, DC’s metro boasts some of the longest escalators in the world. In particular, the Wheaton Metro on DC’s Red Line hosts the longest escalator in the Western Hemisphere at a length of 230 feet (the Forest Glen station, just preceding the Wheaton station, is actually deeper at 196 feet, but the only access in and out is via elevator).

Which leads me to my next point: why didn’t anybody tell me about the escalator system in Hong Kong. Jerks. For the unschooled riff-raff like myself, Hong Kong boasts the world’s longest outdoor escalator system in the world. The escalator system provides such essential transportation for Hong Kong’s commuting masses, that they treat it like an expressway in the United States (think Seattle). In the morning, the escalators operate only downhill for the workers to descend to the business districts, and then operate from 10am until midnight only uphill. This escalator system, christened the Mid-Levels Escalator, consists of 20 escalators and 3 moving sidewalks. It is 800 meters long, and climbs 135 vertical meters. If you were the typical American and let the escalator do all the work, total travel time takes 20 minutes.

I just gotta know, has anybody ever run the entire 800 meters upward against the down escalators? Epic.

Austin Powers realized

1. Dr. Evil:

You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads! Now evidently my cycloptic colleague informs me that that cannot be done. Ah, would you remind me what I pay you people for, honestly? Throw me a bone here!

2. Excerpt from this absurdly, stupefyingly, bewilderingly ridiculous story:

Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet's smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing.

Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War. The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taught to shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compound was breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea. But those who have studied the controversial use of dolphins in the US defence programme claim it is vital they are caught quickly.

Those English people and their wild imaginations.

K-research Laboratories contributed to concocting this story.