Creativity - Why Pirates is an Fantastic Franchise

I am a very creative person, and because I am a creative person I quite enjoy things that are too, very creative.

This past weekend I saw the new Pirates film and I have to say I quite enjoyed it. This isn't surprising to me as I really enjoyed, well all of the Pirates films. I will admit that the sequels didn't have the same magic that watching the first one did, but that is not to say that it was without many things that made watching them enjoyable. Thing is when I told people I like it, some were surprised. They read reviews that didn't paint it in a great light, or the idea of another sequel after the other movies were deemed to be poor sequels. It made me think that even before they were going to see the movie that they weren't going to like it.

I really don't like that idea. It feels almost like because some people have written reviews to say that it's a bad movie that there is now a social norm that requires people to have to conform to these opinions. The thing that has started to bother me is how negative and overly critical people are about things nowadays. I can't say I blame them entirely, we are schooled to be critical about things, but I think it has gotten to the point where people are too analytical and critical without looking at the whole picture.

Here's an example of what I mean about too analytical. Say an author in a story writes something to the effect of, " and the wind blew the blue curtains as she walked by."

An english teacher would have you think to believe that the author was using symbolism to imply how the curtains represent the character's sadness and the cold wind shows how this sadness washed over her as she walks. Meanwhile what the author meant is..." the curtains are fucking blue, and the window was open"

This causes many people to take the fun out of things overanalzing or putting too much value on things that are done poorly, and not enough on all the things that are done right. And when that happens it sucks the fun out something that is otherwise wildly entertaining.

Take for example the "dreaded" Pirate's sequels. A lot of reviews were poor for them especially the third one, but where a lot of people saw faults, I saw ambition. They weaved a complex story exploring the motivations of multiple characters and created many arcs. These arcs had great potential but in the end the execution to wrap them up wasn't all that great. Now here is a question I doubt many ask and that is how did it happen? On a project no one wants to do a bad job, everyone wants to make something the best they can, something that they can be proud to have there name on. There were a lot of people working on the Pirate's films. Just sit through the end credits and you will see how many, but that is were the problem is. You have so many people working on a project like that, writers, director, producers, the studio, and more, and each has an input or they wouldn't be different people (partly why Chris Nolan makes good films). So you have a really ambitious project and story, many people, limited time, budget, and deadlines and when you consider all that what came out of the other end was really damn good. It isn't like making good movies is easy, for how many good, entertaining movies that come out, how many bad ones, or direct to DVD ones come out?

Now being a creative person whom loves creativity I want you to think about some of the things that these movies did well. Think about all the craftsmanship that goes into the making of the set pieces, the minatures and selling them as full size ships in the water. The level of detail in the animation. Think of all the bits on the flying Dutchman. The language of the script, particularly for Jack. The music by the almighty Hans Zimmer, the choreography of the sword fights, and how they move and interact through the whole set, the flow and continuity of the editting of the scenes and the action. The make up of the pirates, or the sea folk, the costumes. The number of people they had in the scenes, and how much effort they made to make it real and magical all at once. There was a bloody pineapple guitar! Think about all this, maybe rewatch the films and do it but either way they did some incredible things. Look at the detail of the small minatures or the below deck of the Pearl, and think about how long it took to hand make those pieces and then how much screen time they got. That is a lot of work for not a lot of show in the end of it all. To me this is amazing and when I watch a film, this is the kind of things I see. And when you see all of these things and think critically about how awesome and how well done all the little details are it makes the big picture look that much better. It makes you appreciate the movie as a whole a hell of a lot more.

So the lesson here is, don't let the opinion of others spoil what would be something fun and entertaining, because truth be told more often then not the opinions of others are probably just shite anyway. And when you yourself are watching something loosen up and don't be too overly critical about a few mute points when the big picture is something spectacular, something special.

And on that note I want you all to know. I will be seeing Transformers 3, and I will be enjoying it, and if you read this and have a hesitation as to why I will be enjoying it, then I strongly suggest reread this blog post again, only this time do it properly.

Root Beer Vodka

Was at a birthday party on the weekend and as is typical with me I politely asked the waitress for something good to drink. She was somewhat taken a back from this request, as is often typical considering how many "whats on tap?" and I'll have a Henikien" I am sure she gets asked on a regular basis. Her response after repeating the request, "alright then"

What she brought was a fantastic drink that they made through experimentation on a quiet night. I didn't catch the name of it exactly but it was heavenly delicious. The familiar taste of root beer, but it was very dry and no where near as sweet actual root beer.

I love to do this sort of thing. I am not much of a beers guy. I like a beer but many beer are simply too many. And if I am to go out I much prefer to have something fancy I can't make myself at home. I rather enjoy having something tasty instead. That is why I enjoy asking waitresses, especially ones that have been at a place for a while what is good. It is often a pleasant surprise what they come up and will bring you.

By the way the really tasty drink was this...
Root Beer Flavored Vodka
a measure of Cola
and topped off with Soda

Quite tasty.

Ideas to Save the World - Turbine Powered Cars

That car is a Jaguar C-X75 concept car built for the Paris Auto Show last year. This is a profound sort of car and here is why. Now this car is a hybrid, and if you follow my blog you know that I have a passionate distaste for hybrids, but the fact that it is a new sort of hybrid in concept is what is exciting. You see the world of hybrids there are two schools of thought. Prius introduced us in a big way to the idea that you make a car with a battery where the engine sometimes powers the battery, and sometimes powers the car itself. When the car doesn't have enough power to run the electric motors the gas engine kicks on to power the battery and drive the car. Then there is the other logic, the logic behind the Volt where the gas engine only spools to recharge the battery and the only method to power the wheel is by the electric motors. This Jag runs on the same idea as the Volt, using gas engines to charge up the battery. But here is the cool thing. Instead of using an engine with pistons and crankshafts, it uses micro turbine engines, similar to what you would see in a jet plane, or in a gas power plant.

Here's why it is brilliant. Turbine engines are miles more efficient then a gas engines, you can use all sorts of fuels with them to make them spin, gas, diesel, ethanol, butanol, whisky, kerosene. Turbines spin much easier then reciprocating engines, and can achieve much higher revs. The ones on that Jaguar are rated to up to 80,000rpm. That is a huge amount of electricity that can be made out of a very small power plant. Also to make the car lighter which is key in fuel efficiency the turbines are much lighter then a engine block and they don't require cooling systems or cycling oil lubrication systems.

But the design isn't without fault and the fault in this instance is... the battery. That is one of the biggest faults with hybrids. Sure the electric motors use a lot more material to get the spinning but not so much that it will be hard to sustain in the future, but batteries use many precious metals that the Earth just doesn't have a lot of. It will one day become a real problem unless a better solution is developed (Carbon tubes). So why not keep the electric motors, and get rid of the battery all together? Instead of storing power have the turbines produce on-demand electricity to keep the car going? A large capacity capacitor may have to be developed to store power during stop starts. but that could work too. Capacitor discharges to give a burst of acceleration and create enough inertia to get the car going while the turbines spool up. That way no power is wasted, it is simply waiting.

An idea such as this shouldn't be too unreasonable. Control systems on cars are getting more and more advanced so it shouldn't be so hard to do something like this. If VolksWagen through the nameplate Bugatti can make a car that can go 268mph and give it a power train warranty, why can't this work. I mean how hard can it be to make a car that can be fuelled by crown royal, powered by miniature jets engines, and work with electricity without an on board battery?

Fitness - Underwear Affair

To support a buddy at work who recovered last year from treatment for a below the waist cancer some of my coworkers and I are participating in the underwear affair. It is a bit of a silly fund raiser in that it encourages people to come out wearing underwear or what else they are comfortable in and have fun. There is a 5k walk (sore) a 10k elite run(not happening) and a 10k fun run (that is the most of my ability). I am in the process of raising money. I put a link below to go to where you can donate to the cause. Not looking for much and every little bit helps!

uncoverthecure.org/site/TR/Events/Calgary2011?px=1863476&pg=personal&fr_id=1200

To give you some more idea about what we are doing a team of about half of dozen of us will be dressing up likely in the style of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, particularly that album where they wore those gym socks... and nothing else, except we will be wearing shorts. It is after all a fun run and not suppose to be a run from the cops! If there is donations, or comments of interest I will post pics here when all is said and done.

Now to prove to myself that I was serious and to see if I could do a 10km run, I hopped on the treadmill and in an hour five did the six mile equivalent. That marks the first time I have ever ran 10km in a single session. In the coming... two weeks (ah shit!) before the run I will be training up several more times. It will be hard, my legs like to scream at me when I run longer then 20 minutes, but none the less training hard to do this. And not make an ass of myself.

So please donate by following to my affair page. Every little bit helps and it is really easy to! Though if you do have questions, please let me know.

Things I have learned from Joss Whedon pt 2

"Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke."
-Joss Whedon

I really believe that this is a very fundamental idea when writing that which has a heavy tone, and something that is sometimes missed with various media. It is one of the reasons that I miss Battlestar Galactica so much. It was a show that was harsh, and at times really depressing. Things always got harder, always worse for the heroes, but the great thing about this is that when there was a moment of victory, the characters, the actors, even the audience really felt it. A lot of TV is missing that nowadays, by putting in too many feel good moments and it makes it all seem fake. It is a weird feeling when the writing makes shows like Bones, and Hawaii Five-O seem less real then Battlestar Galactica which is set in space and has people trying to find Earth.

That is how you make the writing real. You don't write some fantasy world with rainbows and unicorns, you make it like real life with all the nitty gritty. People scraping by, doing the best that they can. Make people selfish, with the heroes being less selfish. You make a world where every one makes mistakes and no one is without some sort of sin... and then you put in a unicorn. The lesson from Joss though is that if you make something heavy, you need some levity.

Some of my favorite Whedon scenes revolve around a character saying something offbeat at the right moment that is appropriate to that character. My favorite from this selection of Firefly involves Nathan Fillion with a sword, you'll see it. Or the one with Adam Baldwin and a chain...

http://youtu.be/3uMAKtXlXf4

There are many more of these moments from Buffy, Angel, Dr. Horrible. But the important thing to take away from it, especially when writing is that when you create a conversation, make the characters' personality drive what you want them to say. When mapping out dialogue plan out all the points you want to hit, but then make the personality of the characters dominant the banter. Of course you need enough different characters that have widely different personalities which make the banter all the better.

So when setting the tone as something dark and heavy, always give a moment of levity to keep the reader engaged (and not too depressed).

Pirating Pirates of the Caribbean

Have you ever heard of couponers? It is those people that make a lifestyle out of clipping coupons and the ones that are good at it buy hundreds of dollars worth of products and are owed money from the store. They have some show about it that is annoying sometimes on in my house. It may sound cool but it is a lifestyle. Many hours clipping coupons, buying products for better coupons for the next trip. Some people are obsessed, others do it as a hobby. I thought it was cool when one couple was doing it to acquire food stuffs to donate to the homeless, and was able to donate $2,500 worth of goods.

Now I am by no means a couponer. I am a bit more of a watch dog, especially with DVDs and video games. I know the things that I want to eventually get, but I have no love to pay full price, so I will check ads once a week and see what the price is for the things that I want. If they are on sale for a price I like I will then get them. I don’t mind waiting for them. Not a couponer but I had a couponer experience...

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean for the PS3 was the target. I don't usually buy games on a release date but I figured I would make an exception because of what else was on sale with it at best buy...

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean (PS3)
regular $59.99, release day sale $49.99, Reward Zone Member $10 off

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (Blu - Ray)
regular $29.99, sale $19.99, discounted to $9.99 with video game

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Blu - Ray)
regular $29.99, sale $19.99, discounted to $9.99 with video game

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Blu - Ray)
regular $29.99, sale $19.99, discounted to $9.99 with video game

Now here is the other thing, included in the blu rays is a voucher for $11 off seeing the new pirates. that times three movies. So to summarize...

Video Game... regular $59.99 ... sale $39.99
Blu Rays... regular $29.99 x3 ... sale $9.99 x3
Movie Tickets... regular $12.50 x3 ... sale $1.50 x3

So total value... $187.50 total spent... $75

I see why couponers do what they do it, like stealing without the criminal aspect

Ideas to Save the World - Whiskey Powered Homes

This is the kind of thing that warms the cockles of my heart. Taking a by product of, in this case a manufacturing process, and turning it into something that is even more useful to society is what I like to see. If you want to read the article the link is below...



To quickly summarize, the spent grains used to make whiskey, called draff, will be trucked no more then 25 miles to a site that will use it with a combination of wood chips to generate power for 9,000 homes in Speyside, Scotland. Another by-product of the process, pot ale, will be donated to distilleries and made into fertilizer and animal feed.

I love this idea, and in the future we will be seeing this more and more, which is a genuinely good thing. I love the idea that grains grow, harvested, made into whiskey and the residual products go back and power and fertilize the farmers that grow the grain.

Of course you must always take this with a grain of salt. The idea of it is great and I really hope it works, but does it? Will the energy required to produce the fertilizer exceed normal processes, making it more wasteful? Even if it does, is it better to have an organic fertilizer made from more energy? What is the consumption of wood chips required to be mixed with the Draff? Where is the wood sourced from?

When asking these questions, without getting any answers (haven't done any research), it can make the idea a bit depressing. I am essentially asking is the recycling process doing more harm than good? Sometimes the answer is yes, other times, it can be no. I hope this one is a firm yes when you balance all the equations. I love the idea of my power smelling like a bit Chivas in the distant wind.

Election piss offs

It took me a little while but I have finally figured out what about the results of the last election have pissed me off and that is people's reactions more then anything. Reading through facebook messages I have seen people posting messages about how the new conservative government will set fire to parliament and offer ourselves to the states as a new American state. Some of the left wing people, and you know the ones. The ones that are now thinking of moving out of Canada and not coming back because Canada will be destroyed. Uttering bull shit and non sense have been talking like this. Now I am not saying that you shouldn't have an opinion on a matter as important as federal government in the country you live in. I think you should, you really need to care.

If you are going to have a strong opinion you better not be a cunt and bitching just to bitch. You need to back up your opinion. For example all those people that are spouting strong negative opinions, how many of them are card holders for the party they wanted in government? How many of them actually participated in campaigning for the party they hold a card for?

And that's the thing that has bugged me about the election results. You want to bitch, bitch, but keep it in check. If you are going to rant and rant you better have done more during the election then just vote. And if you were in the trenches, working on the campaign for anyone other then the conservative and after all that hard work, the conservatives take office, yeah you can be upset, I will give you that.

As far as I am concerned if you want to have a strong opinion you have to earn it and work for it, otherwise you are likely just spouting out bull shit of an unintelligent nature and adding to the global warming crisis with all the hot obnoxious air you are exhaling.

Election Outcome - Thoughts

I am conservative at the moment because I feel that is what Canada needs. There was a global recession that shook the world. Canada came out of this pretty good but we need the economic booster shot of increased foreign investment that will strengthen our market. Look at how good the dollar is doing, I bet we could get it better.

But I don't think that after this term Canada should have a conservative government. Firstly when one party is in place too long they get stagnate with their policies, and their people. That was what happened when the Liberals fell to the Conservatives. For a democracy to benefit a society you need the parties to be competing with eachother, promising change and delivering on that change. I think that people need to recognize that governments need to be swapped in and out. It was liberal, now a proper conservative. They will do some good on somethings and damage on others. The next government will do the same thing if it is NDP, Conservative or Liberal. No matter what there will never be a golden government everyone is happy with, nor should there ever be.

As a citizen you should always demand more from your governments.

Ideas to Save the World - Research money for new fuels.

Since I have recently been on about cars. Blame the relapse of a Top Gear kick that I am on at present.

Here is one of the issues with the energy market. The economics. When gas prices are high that is when big oil companies will start to throw money at research into alternative fuels. So at roughly the $110-$120 a barrel range is the thereshold for when they give money to boffins at Universities to figure out how to produce other fuels like Butanol, Ethanol etc. I am on about this after the last post that had the idea about the cellulos produced fuels where bacteria digest a soup make of garbage and sweat out fuel. I quite like this idea, and it has been proven to work. Will it work on a large scale? Not yet, but it can. With the appropriate research the researchers can develop the maths to make it work, I have no doubt about it. The problem is the money is not always there.

Big oil will fund these research projects at the height of energy prices which to them makes financial sense, but the issue is that fuel prices shift so quickly and so easily that if a fly sneezes near a refinery, the price will jump half way around the world. And just as easily, the price can destabilize completely and we all can get stuffed at the pumps for pennies (many many pennies but less pennies then previous). Problem is, that when the prices fall the money for research does too. It seems that oil companies really only have an interest in finding a better fuel when everyone is shouting about gas being too high. When the price at the pumps go down, shouting stops and since no one of consequence is shouting, oil companies quietly turn the taps on alternative fuels, leaving researchers with many ideas about the future stuck in a present held by the nuts by business men.

This really bugs me. As a society we should be looking for better ways to do things all the time. Some people sure are and are trying to, but you can only do so much with a few pents if you are looking to do something to change the world. Here's my thought on the solution...

Remove the option of research from big oil. Remove some of the companies tax breaks or impose one, call it a "Better future tax." Have it managed by a government organization who uses it to fund promising research into optimizing energy impact versus environment and such, and have a constant stream of moneys in and methods for new fuels, reduced environmental impacts from production come out. There would have to be some consideration given to how to get big oil money to later re-invest into the research outputs to actually implement the new methods. Can a government posses a patient? But I strongly believe that this would be a better way to get it done.

Thoughts?