Singapore re-imagined

Outstanding videos, watch 'em both.

There are two of you in your head

Thanks to Bert for finding this amazing (spooky?) video of brain weirdness.

"How are you?"

It's a normal greeting in many languages to say "How are you?" or the like. (Locally here it's often "are you okay?".)  Since I have the odd tendency to believe that people mean what they say, and to not lie if avoidable, I've been long confused as how to answer that. The answer may be complex, or it may be negative on a bad day. And do people really want to hear about it?

I think not, generally. What they want, I think, is to show that they care (which is surely true to some degree or other) and to reassure themself that you are one less thing for them to worry about.

And of course they usually can't help you anyway if you're having a bad day. So in that case I've developed a kind-of solution which does not involve any lies. I simply nod and smile and say: "And you!" That seems to be perfectly acceptable.

I'm reminded, it seems a common idea that "Good morning" means "it is a good morning." But it seems obvious to me that it means "I wish you a good morning."

Trash talk

"Mom, it's trash talk. You know, how guys say mean things to their friends, the way women say nice things to their enemies."
-- Lisa Simpson

Hollywood woes

Hollywood is having a really bad year regarding theatre tickets sold, the worst since almost a hundred years. And they wonder why.

Seems simple to me: high definition home entertainment centres. Or just good TVs and blue-ray players or downloads.
When you can watch a movie in splendid quality right in the comfort in your own home, pause it at will to go wee or make coffee, and not sitting among a lot of strangers, some of whom may block your view or scream for "violence!" (I sat right in front of some young men who did that many times once during Total Recall), why make the trip to a theatre? Even back when the alternative was only VHS rentals which were really awful quality, the theatres were already starting to hurt.
And of course, video games have captured a tonne of the attention and time of the younger generations.
Let's face it, movie theatres were created because it simply was the only way to show movies to the public. Now they are fighting to justify their downsides in some way. It's just the old "buggy whip manufacturer" syndrome again. New technology always makes some new jobs and destroys some old ones.

It doesn't help that Hollywood seems to have an idea problem. Everything is sequels now, it's hard to find many interesting fresh ideas in recent years, or even impressive new actors.

"Yellow Running Man"