I Love TV and the Movies. They ROCK!!!!

Nuff Said.

Photoshop Your Way to Happiness, Kind Of.

Check out the following video for a new web photo compilation application which is said to take sketches and create composite images of your liking.
I have to say that this looks pretty funky, maybe even fun. Can I be bothered trying it out, I dunno, have a look anyway and see.

This Is Not a Raleigh Grifter.

Now, as a kid I used to bike everywhere. I loved my bike. It took me all over town. I had a Raleigh Grifter and I am pretty sure there were not too many around. My skills on a bike were confined to getting from place A to place B, maybe riding through the odd creek or jumping from the curb where it dips over peoples driveways. That was it.
Nothing compares to the following dude. His name is Danny MacAskill and he is pretty handy on 2 wheels. Check out the vid after the jump for some mid blowing freestyle.

Seriously Good Movie Reviews.

Many people out there in the World may have already had exposure to a chap called Mark Kermode, I on the other hand have just learnt about him. He features on a BBC radio show hosted by Simon Mayo which is posted as a podcast every week. He is a well informed bloke in the world of movies and from what I can gather he is somewhat influential.
He has a love of horror movies and an extensive collection of some of the worst films ever made. If you are after a decent weekly and sometime humorous movie review then download the podcast from the 5Live website and have a listen. Well worth the 40-50 minutes of your week to find out what is good and what is not.

Subscribe to the podcast here.

Only in NZ - Guilty by Accusation

It is hard to believe but true that in New Zealand a new law is about to come into force that will reverse in one single swipe all that democracy and justice stands for, that is the right to innocence until proven guilty.

Olympic Update - Michael Phelps In Your Face!

Check out the video after the jump of the second place swimmer in 100m butterfly event.


What a Twat!!!

Ha, ha.

Ed, please stop - you are making a fool of yourself

Ed Mitchell - astronaut, woo-merchant and grey alien lover. I guess by now everyone and their dog has heard of Ed and his amazing stories of the aliens at Roswell, New Mexico. But this is not new - he's been saying this for some time, and it was only thanks to his interview on Birmingham-based Kerrang radio where he said "that we have been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomenon is real - though it's been covered up by governments for the last 60 years or so". This has lead to some typical hysteria in the news from journo's willing to sensationalise anything to move a paper or get more visits. But I was extremely surprised when I saw John Campbell dip into this murky well of bullshit reporting last week, and interviewed Ed on his show.

Ok, I'll give it that John Campbell is not the fount of excellent journalism, and he does stray into the News of the World territory on occasion, but he's from Palmerston North (Represent! P. Nth 4 Life!) so I'll cut him a break for now. My main problem is that he is giving airtime to someone who has a hypothesis about what actually happened at Roswell, when he wasn't involved at all. He plainly says in the interview that he was a teenager at the time living in Roswell, and he doesn't really remember a whole lot about it, except some stuff in the local papers. That's not surprising in the slightest - my nephew is in the teen years and its impossible to get him interested in anything going on in the world outside his circle of friends, his job or the Playstation. Everything else is comprehensively labelled as "lame", "dumb" or the derisive "that's so gay".

But even though he was not involved, he is using his Argument from Authority and Anecdotal Evidence to try and convince the world that aliens crashed at Roswell. He says "the old timers" from Roswell who apparently were involved have passed on the vital information about 10 years ago about what they saw and heard, and this is what he bases his opinion on alien visitation. He has no evidence to prove the veracity of these claims except the word of other people that they are telling the truth which, I'm sorry Ed, doesn't count for squat. Now to give Ed his dues, he has been fooled in the past.

It was Mitchell who “discovered” spoon-bender Uri Geller when Geller was only a cabaret performer doing his run-of-the-mill “psychic” tricks for teeny-boppers in Israel, assisted by Hannah Shtrang – who later became his wife – and Shipi Shtrang, her brother, who still works as his assistant. Mitchell actually travelled to Israel and arranged for Geller to come to the USA and be studied at the Stanford Research Institute – later to be re-named SRI International. Two physicists there, apparently awed by meeting a genuine Lunar Astronaut, chose to believe that such a hero couldn’t be wrong, that Geller was therefore the real thing, and Geller’s career took off. It’s safe to say that without Edgar Mitchell’s naivety, we’d have been spared the advent of the Geller Delusion.
James Randi - Swift 31/07/2008

After retiring from the Navy in 1972, Dr. Mitchell founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences to sponsor research into the nature of consciousness as it relates to cosmology and causality. In 1984, he was a co-founder of the Association of Space Explorers, an international organization of those who have experienced space travel.

He is the author of "Psychic Exploration," 1974, "The Way of the Explorer," 1996, (Third edition, 2006) as well as dozens of articles in both professional and popular periodicals. He has devoted the last 35 years to studying human consciousness and psychic and paranormal phenomena in the search for a common ground between science and spirit.
Ed Mitchell Bio

Ok, that does run close to an Ad Hominem attack, but I think its relevant. He has shown a propensity in the past to be fooled by charlatans like Uri Geller, so who is to say that some group of people who believe what they say happened in Roswell so many years ago couldn't do the same? Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on me again.

As for the Psychic Investigations, Phil Plait over at Bad Astronomy says that he is fully in support of people doing science based investigations of this sort of stuff, but I'm not too sure that's what he would be doing. If you back someone like Uri Geller without any evidence apart from watching a few parlour tricks, how credible will any scientific conclusions on similar topics be?

I guess we can only hope that the news agencies publish less of this and focus more on what Ed actually achieved - its a lot to hope for I know, but hey - a Palmy boy can dream cant he?

Guns don’t kill people...

I was always fascinated by that saying and how simple it seems. “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. In essence, it is compelling because it is true. Guns do not kill people of their own volition, they require a motive force such as a finger pulling the trigger, a hand to aim it and a person to decide what to aim at. But is it oversimplifying things? Do guns in a larger sense actually kill people through actually existing, or am I just talking out my butt?

Recently I had my house broken into, and although nothing much was taken luckily, and no one was home, the sense of some scumbag rifling through my personal effects pissed me off something chronic. I went through the classic stages we experience to cope with things.

DENIAL
“What? Someone broke in? Don’t be ridiculous! They can’t break in when we’ve got things like, doors and windows covering the openings. Well of course they could have just smashed a window, but who in their right mind would do that? That’s crazy talk!”

ANGER
“Fucking pricks! How dare they break into my house! I’m going to....well...I...I’m going to get pretty upset is what I’m going to do!”

BARGINING
“Please please please please please please let my new xbox still be there”

DEPRESSION
“This sucks. How can someone do this to me and my family. What sort of nihilistic a-hole would invade my house and rifle through my shit?”

ACCEPTANCE
“What? Are you joking? Acceptance? Fuck. That. The next time I see someone snooping round the neighbourhood I’m gonna get the rake outta the shed and beat seven kinds of snot out of them!”


It was the last statement (which I actually did think to myself) that I have come back to ponder in the light of a few recent events in New Zealand. In early June an owner of a liquor outlet Navtej Singh in South Auckland was shot dead, even though he had complied totally with the offenders demands. Since then there have been a spate of shootings and assaults (not entirely related to shop owners) that have been highlighted in the media. A majority of these we all shake our heads, do the old “tut tut” thing and continue on with our lives because we are not shocked by this sort of thing – we have been desensitised to it. It is remote. Its happening to someone else we have nothing to do with, so we feel comfortable dismissing it from the worry centre of our brain and concentrating on more personal matters. Which is all perfectly normal – you can’t expect people to live in total fear because of the worry and stress caused by events which have no immediate impact on their lives. Unless you live in the US of course, and then the Government and media make damn sure you worry about every perceived terrorist threat there could possibly be.

But I digress. On Monday night, two machete wielding offenders charged into a Christchurch dairy and attacked the owner and his wife without provocation. The owner Nike said "Usually in the movies they say 'Give me the money' but they tried to kill us from the very start. It happened really fast. They ran in holding the knife out and started trying to chop me." At this point, Nike whipped out his air pistol that was stashed behind the counter, and shot the knife wielding maniacs, wounding one of them in the face. He saved his life, his wife’s life and didn’t kill anyone in the process. Bravo Nike – well done.

This has raised the obvious question however – should people have the right to arm themselves for protection? I saw on the news tonight, several people calling for the ability of shop owners to defend themselves. What would have happened in any of these situations where a small business owner is confronted by an armed nutter, demanding they “gimme the casshhhhh” is armed with a .357 magnum, or a small .22 pistol? It’s obvious really – the outcome would be much worse. As soon as you arm everyone for “personal protection” you increase the death toll at every robbery. The more guns there are, the more people will get shot and it wont be for reasons of “personal protection” either. You then put a gun in the hands of every husband who has an argument with his wife, of every disgruntled employee who has forgotten the TPS reports, and every bored teenager who feels like taking their frustrations with the world out on someone.

Its relatively hard in New Zealand to get a gun, and although we are seeing an increase of crimes linked with guns, I wouldn’t want to change that. If you see someone with a gun, it stands out – they look out of place and you can identify them as a possible offender because they are armed. If you arm everyone, they blend into the crowd and make them impossible to find. Increasing the number of weapons owned legitimately will make it harder to trace the ones that are not, making it incredibly hard to capture and prosecute successfully people who commit armed offences.

“Guns don’t kill people, people kill people, but if you give everyone a gun, more people will be killed” – proliferation of weapons has never helped solve anything. All it does is give people who are pissed off, down on their luck or just bored something to play with.

Sensing Horseshit : Update

And here's what I was worried about when I posted the other day about this psychic crap on NZ television. The mainstream media has latched onto a statement made by police, jumbled it around to sound interesting and posted it in the "Psychics are right!" style of article. I thought Fairfax media, who run Stuff and a majority of the newspapers in NZ, might have had a shred of journalistic integrity, but it looks like I was wrong. They have an article on Stuff entitled "Psychics stir up murder mysteries" - oooooh! I had hoped it was because the title "Psychics make vague pronouncements about tragic death in vain hope of milking even more money out of gullible idiots" was too long, but after reading the article I don't think so.

What a load of crap. It starts out with the worst sentence possible - "The death of a South Otago teenager, subject of an investigation this month by psychics on the TV2 programme Sensing Murder, is being re-examined by police." Investigation? If that's an investigation I'm a monkeys bum. They wandered around looking dreamy, with bad cuts and re-enactments from actors, and said that someone as a "practical joke" threw something aflame into his car, burning it out with the young man still inside. Not exactly easy to prove, or disprove, and its the latter that is probably more telling. In the standard line of mentalists and so called psychics they pick a story that seems plausible and cannot be proven wrong on the current evidence. The police have already said that they do not know what started the fire, so that meant the clowns could say pretty much anything they like.

But what's even more annoying is the way the article is written to blatantly ignore the facts and twist the words of the police. The police said they had spoken to the Stott family (relatives of the deceased) and were looking further into some aspects of the case. The article slips the words "since the programme went to air" implying that the opinion of the entertainers on Sensing Mo' Money had something to do with it. And in a very oblique way, they did (someone contacted the police after seeing the show with some info they are looking into) but not the way you might think after reading the article.

I think the most important bits are the twisted logic used to tie the programe and the Police investigations together. Phrases like "while the case was technically closed, police would re-examine it if new information came to hand" just point to the fact that there has been no new information. And technically closed? Its closed because there's no reason to re-open it! You could use that statement to describe every single cold case in world history!

"While the case of who shot JFK was technically closed, police would re-examine it if new information came to hand"

"While the case of Hitler's final resting place was technically closed, police would re-examine it if new information came to hand"

"While the case of who shot first, Han or Greedo was technically closed, police would re-examine it if new information came to hand"

I can only take solace in the fact the the NZ police are making rational statements, like "But just because someone with a crystal ball says something. . . it's got to be something that is tangible. . . something useful." They might be asking a bit much there. That's the whole point - psychics don't give "useful" information. They use word games and tricks to make you believe you are getting information when most of the time they are merely parroting what you say back to you, telling you things they have secretly found out about you, or just making shit up.

All in all, its not true that the psychics "stirred" anything up at all - the only new information has come as a result of the show re-enacting the details known about the case on TV, perhaps jogging someone's memory. Nothing they have said in 3 seasons of this tripe has ever been proven right. It makes me wonder why people keep watching this, even when you apply the old maxim "people remember the hits and forget the misses", especially when they have had no hits whatsoever.

E3 Game trailerfest.

Most people know that the E3 game\gadget\technology fest is on in the States. Well here is a bunch or previews for some of the games that have featured so far. We have the likes of Resident Evil 5, the new Wolfenstein game, Ghostbusters and Fallout 3 among others. Have a look after the jump for some of these beautiful new games.

No doubt there will have to be some serious hardware updates needed to play some of these titles. Mirror's Edge looks brilliant.
Resident Evil 5


Wolfenstien


I am Alive


Ghost busters


Madworld


Singularity


God of War 3


Fallout3






Mirrors edge demo reel

Picture That!

A newish website has has been brought to my attention. It comes from the team at Boston.com. Its a blog that they run with high res photo's from around the world and beyond. I noticed this site primarily because of the images that it posted of Mars and the Apollo missions, but there are a host more. There are some stunning images of the current fires in California and more topical events such as the Presidential battle between Obama and McCain. I saw the link for this first from Phil over at Bad Astronomy There are a couple of samples after the jump but go to BOSTON for the full size images.

Neo Makes the Earth Stand Still

One of science fictions greatest movies is in the process of a remake. The Robert Wise masterpiece ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ is being updated by Scott Derrickson, known for such epics as Hellraiser: Inferno???, Urban Legends: Final Cut??!!!!??!?!? And the more well known Exorcism of Emily Rose. Robert Wise directed the original and went on to direct Run Silent Run Deep, Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Andromeda Strain so maybe this will do for Derrickson what it did for Wise. Who knows.

I am quietly excited by this remake, I was very dubious before I saw the trailer which was released today but now I feel like it could be pretty interesting. Keanu Reeves plays the part of Klaatu previously played by Michael Rennie, an interesting choice. I think that Reeves has reached the age now that he can play these sorts of roles. Plus with the Matrix trilogy firmly under his belt I we can accept him in semi dramatic science fiction flix and not the dumb surfer cant act for shit FBI type guy.

Needless to say the new trailer for TDTEST looks dark and apocalyptic. There is a sense that the Earth is going to get totally trashed in a Roland Emmerich kind of way. That’s cool because I like that sort of stuff and when it’s done with a sci-fi background its even better. I hope that the message within the story is nice and clear. One of the great things about the original was its lack of ambiguity; unlike other B-grade sci-fi picture from the 50’s which needed more work to see the symbolism. Even when I watched the film as a kid I was able to walk away and say, ‘Great film, and it was all about how bad war is’. In saying that I understand that the remake is more about save the planet rather than don’t fight amongst yourselves.

Anyway it is scheduled for a December release which gives us plenty of time to speculate on what it will be like. Check out the trailer for the original film. Great stuff.

Is it a Bird - Is it a Plane

One of the worst things about flying is that little something, no matter how remote might happen to your plane. That slight niggle in the back of your mind that is inescapable. Everyone has it. Imagine being on a plane that sucks a bird into the engine on take off. What a mess. I wonder what that would look like.
Check out the video after the jump of a Boeing 757 taking off.

Lots of seats would need cleaning after this.. Scary.

UPDATE : Terry Pratchett not god botherer - no-one surprised again

Looks like someone took the time to ask Terry to explain what the dithering blockheads had reported earlier as a religious experience - and he does! See this article at the Mail Online (ignore the title, its bullshit again) where he says :

There is a rumour going around that I have found God. I think this is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my keys, and there is empirical evidence that they exist.

More excerpts after the jump.

Evolution was far more thrilling to me [as a child] than the biblical account. Who would not rather be a rising ape than a falling angel? To my juvenile eyes Darwin was proved true every day. It doesn't take much to make us flip back into monkeys again.

So what shall I make of the voice that spoke to me recently as I was scuttling around getting ready for yet another spell on a chat-show sofa?

More accurately, it was a memory of a voice in my head, and it told me that everything was OK and things were happening as they should. For a moment, the world had felt at peace. Where did it come from?

Me, actually - the part of all of us that, in my case, caused me to stand in awe the first time I heard Thomas Tallis's Spem In Alium, and the elation I felt on a walk one day last February, when the light of the setting sun turned a ploughed field into shocking pink; I believe it's what Abraham felt on the mountain and Einstein did when it turned out that E=mc2.

It's that moment, that brief epiphany when the universe opens up and shows us something, and in that instant we get just a sense of an order greater than Heaven and, as yet at least, beyond the grasp of Stephen Hawking. It doesn't require worship, but, I think, rewards intelligence, observation and enquiring minds.

I don't think I've found God, but I may have seen where gods come from.

Celebs do the zaniest things

What do we consider a celebrity? Most of the time its someone who is popular for one of the arts like singing, acting or dancing. Other times its media related (radio show hosts), internet (popular bloggers) or even just for being in the spotlight far too much (I think we all know who that is). The one thing that all of these people have is that they are just people - a common cross section of average joe's who are talented in one or two area's, just like everyone else. And because they are just a normal cross section of humanity, they contain the full spectrum of weirdo's and freaks we meet in our everyday lives.

Stephen Fry is one of the least nutty people I read about. He may be gadget obsessed, far too smart for your average bear, and a talented actor, but he's also reasonably rational, severely underestimates himself, and backs his opinions with fact a majority of the time. He is the most unusual of celebrities in that he is one who's opinion I listen to, and while I don't agree all the time, I understand the point he makes and its usually based in reality.

Unfortunately, Stephen is in the minority when it comes to logic and reason combined with celebrity. The majority of people in prime positions of public interest out there are no more than glorified sock puppets when it comes to speaking in public. They twitter inanely about UFO's, the 9/11 conspiracy, how JFK was murdered by illuminati, anti-vaccination movements, feng shui, homeopathy and crackpot religions. Most of all, they use their fame and fortunes to further these causes/dementias, to the detriment of everyone else just because they think they know better. "I am famous, so I must know more than you!"

Even worse are the blind sheep of a public who sit there day in, day out being fed this crap, lapping it up, wondering if their celebrity horoscope might tell them how to get a piece of that famous pie, or if the homoeopathy pills they choke down will really help make the golf ball sized lump they found in their balls go down. Well horoscopes are utter fantasy, and homoeopathy is an 11 letter word for water, so not likely on both those fronts. But what other weird and wonderful crap have we seen recently from our morons in superstardom, and what impact does it have on the millions of muddled souls out there?

Celeb : Robbie Williams
Wackiness : Believes in UFO's and likes to go out into the wilderness with a Spotters guide book and binoc's to see if he can tick off the notable aliens. "Robbie has been taking pals out to the woods for long weekends. He wants to live like a cowboy in a Western. He also has a fascination with UFOs and thinks he has more chance of seeing one away from Los Angeles' bright lights."
Science says : No proof as yet of any extraterrestrial contact
Possible Effects of Imitating Star : loss of income spent on chasing phantoms, loss of credibility among friends and family when you tell them what you do, and loss of brain as it melts out your ears.

Celeb : Jim Carrey
Wackiness : Jim's been brainwashed by his new missus that vaccines are bad m'kay, and we are poisoning our children by injecting them with this stuff.
Science says : Are you out of your mind? Denying children a vaccine is tantamount to signing their death warrant. There is no evidence that vaccines are even remotely bad for you in the way these idiots purport.
Possible Effects of Imitating Star : very sick children who have no immunity to disease's, possible death. One of the stupidest star-led causes I have ever heard of.

Celeb : Heather Mills
Wackiness : Says that milk is the main cause of obesity in school children. Nothing to do with the MacDonalds right?
Science says : This is a thinly veiled PETA protest against cows as herd animals. Not based on science whatsoever, and is totally a social prejudice against anyone who is not a vegan. If PETA had their way, we wouldn't eat anything.
Possible Effects of Imitating Star : sick kids again who wouldn't get some of the more essential nutrition in their diet.

Celeb : Prince Charles and other royal inbreds
Wackiness : Homoeopathy actually does anything
Science says : Its water. It doesn't do shit except for the placebo effect. You are paying millions of dollars each year for water. Well done Charlie.
Possible Effects of Imitating Star : your wallet has an amazing tendency to become lighter, yet your illness continues unabated. IF you are seriously ill, you are risking your life by believing in this snake oil.

Celeb : Madonna
Wackiness : I'm unsure exactly what she believes in - I think she's just a twit. But she does buy into this Kabbalah water crap, which is some spiritual Jewish water peddled by The Kabbalah Center, which is supposed to heal, center you, make you at one with the guiding yadda yadda yadda.
Science says : Its water. Even Jewish rabbi's say its bubkes.
Possible Effects of Imitating Star : more rapid deflation of bank account, followed by acute swelling of the "I'm a tit" gland.

Celeb : Geri Haliwell, Tom Cruise, Oliver Stone, John Travolta etc. etc. etc.
Wackiness : Scientology. A religion dreamt up by a bad science fiction writer to make money, and believers think we descended from Clams and you can spend half a millions dollars to be audited to retrieve god-like powers. Riiight.
Science says : (shrugs shoulders) There's no evidence that anything they claim is even remotely true, but this is a money making operation, not a scientific organisation no matter what the call themselves.
Possible Effects of Imitating Star : you are a loony.


I could go on writing all day. The point I am making is that these people that we as consumers of mass marketed media put on a pedestal, are no smarter or dumber than every one of us. They are just a cross section of society containing the literate, smart and logical, as well as the kooky, weird and downright nuts. The problem lies within the fact that they have a power to coerce people through their fame into causes and bullshit that have no basis in reality. We should treat them just like everyone else - show me the evidence. If you have a cause or belief, show me the evidence it is true. Otherwise, shut the hell up.

Jeremy Clarkson Rakes in the Cash

Yesterday Mooghead sent me this article from the telegraph in the UK. It appears that Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear has secured himself a small fortune. The BBC know what they have with Mr Clarkson, that is the most entertaining presenter on TV at the moment and it looks like they will do anything to keep him at the Beeb. The goss is that Mr Clarkson will take a percentage of the worldwide profits from the Top Gear brand, this has been disputed by the BBC but what a score if it’s true.

It is said that the new deal will put Clarkson in the same league as other BBC presenters such as Jonathan Ross who earned over 18 million pounds over a 3 year period. Top Gear is BBC Two’s highest rating program and is watched by over 235 million people. That shows the pulling power that he has. Some people get paid far too much but as far as I am concerned Jeremy Clarkson is worth every penny. A BBC spokesperson said:

"Top Gear has become a massive success story in the UK and all over the world. It has gone to another level: it is now a family programme – it's not just for men who like cars. What percentage he actually gets and how it works needs to remain confidential.”

It is surprising that he falls into this category of presenters because he is one of the more controversial at the BBC. He is well know for his comments which many would deem politically incorrect and some say that he is an advocate for speeding and dangerous driving. This is all rubbish, his jokes are in jest and is people take them literally they are too sensitive, and he is probably one of the safest drivers on the road.

All I can say is well done Clarkson and continue with the good work.

Here's some video of Clarkson doing what he does best.

UK Papers report utter crap - no-one surprised

Terry Pratchett is a brilliant author. While some may read this and disagree, I would like to gently make the point that I'm the one writing this and you can bugger off. He has stated many times during his career how he is an atheist, and "blames god for not existing" and he was recently diagnosed with Alzheimers. If you've read any of his novels he takes the idea of gods and puts it in its proper place of comedy and ridicule. But recently my attention was drawn by Moogs to an article in the Times about TP finding god, and he asked what I thought about it. I'll admit, my first reaction was unfavourable.

I mean, the temerity of the man - how dare he! But after a few seconds I calmed down and wondered if it was indeed true - it didn't really go with everything else he has said about religion. So I did a wee bit of research, read the article on Times Online and did a search for any other bits of info surrounding TP and his conversion to god bothering. What did I find? Not much - the article points to an "unexplained experience" he had when he was first diagnosed with Alzheimers.

“I’m certainly not a man of faith, but as I was rushing down the stairs one day . . . it was very strange. And I say this reluctantly, because I am trying to deal with this situation in as hardheaded a way as I can. I suddenly knew that everything was okay, that what I was doing was right, and I didn’t know why.”

"It was a thought that all the right things are happening in the circumstances; and I thought, ‘Well, that’s all right then.’ I don’t actually believe in anyone who could have put that in my head – unless it was my dad, and he’s been dead a few years.”

“It is just possible that once you have got past all the gods that we have created with big beards and many human traits, just beyond all that, on the other side of physics, there just may be the ordered structure from which everything flows.

“That is both a kind of philosophy and totally useless – it doesn’t take you anywhere. But it fills a hole.”

Ok, time to get the deconstruction stick out.

The first point to make is that all of these statements have been made in different interviews. He said some of it an interview as reported on Times Online, and in another interview in the News Review. Two separate interviews, probably about two completely different things, and bad quote mining = stupid Times Online article.

Secondly, he doesn't ever say "I've found god, I'm off to bash some bibles". The headline for the piece in Times Online was "Alzheimers leads atheist Terry Pratchett to appreciate God", and in the Telegraph it was "Terry Pratchett hints he may have found God". No he doesn't - he says he had an unexplained experience. The closest he comes to saying god is "I'm not a man of faith". So does this mean every time someone proclaims that they are not of faith, they actually are? What sort of bizarre and twisted logic is that?

And thirdly, the phrase "unexplained experience" does not mean god. Nor does it mean the flying spaghetti monster, or Ramadama Ding Dong had anything to do with it either. In fact, usually when people use the word "unexplained" people immediately leap into the UFO category, and its surprising they didn't this time. He says that he felt "everything was ok" and that "all the right things are happening in the circumstances". So what he's saying is that he felt at peace with himself at that particular time, and happy with the way things are going. I see no god in that. I feel happy frequently, and at peace with my decisions in life - but at no time do I interpret a divine hand in my life. Just because everything is going your way, does not mean some benevolent beardy weirdy sky god has his eye on you.

Its a load of bollocks in my opinion - a sloppy peice of journalism created by some nancy in between his sessions at the boozer. And the other papers have just copied it verbatim because its mildly interesting, and they can't be bothered checking the facts. What rubbish.

As an aside, even if this were accurate (and I have no way of verifying this unless TP decides to respond to my email) who cares? I don't care if he suddenly clutches at the rosary, and heads down to the local guilt merchants for a session in "all the things he's done bad". That's his prerogative. It has no bearing on my opinion of him as a writer and I will continue to buy his books until they stop becoming good books to read. I hope he continues to write for many years to come, and his "embuggerance" of an illness goes into recession, or is cured (no thanks to the NHS). Sure, it would be disappointing to see someone with a serious brain disease succumb to religion, but again - who am I to say what he should believe in?

I think the best indicator of the veracity of these articles is something he said during the interview :

“Faith in what? If I get pushed in this corner, I believe in the same God that Einstein did. Einstein was a clever bloke."

And what did Einstein have to say on the subject?

If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.
Albert Einstein, 1954, from Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press

Best News in Ages – Top Gear is BACK.

That’s right, I just found out that Top Gear is back on our screens this week; well it is if you live in England. For those of us that live outside the homeland we have to find other ways to keep up-to-date. But that is beside the point. The point is that we will have the gang back, Jeremy will no doubt be power sliding flash cars shouting “power”, the Hamster will be polishing his teeth and James May will be going slow.

Top gear is undoubtedly the best show on TV, it is funny, dangerous, intelligent, stupid and outrageous all at once. Even members of the fairer sex like the show (probably has something to do with Richard Hammond), my wife finds it funny. The 1st episode of season 11 is on BBC2 on June 22 and will feature a Ferrari F430 Scuderia.

On related news Jalopnik just announced that BBC America have cast the presenters of the US version of Top Gear which will be produced by NBC. They are Adam Carolla who is know for been on the Manshow with Jimmy Kimmel, Tanner Frost who apparently is a well known rally driver and drift racer, and a chap called Eric Stromer who is a TV construction type guy. I have to say that I am cynical about this as half the reason that the British version works is because they are all former journalists or radio personalities that have an unbridled passion for the motorcar but mostly because they are all seriously good mates. I don’t know, maybe it will take a while for the US team to gel and become popular. It will be interesting to see who the guests in the reasonably priced car will be, what with being in the US where most of the famous people in the world hang out.
Jay Leno pulled out of the project saying "it would be impossible to re-create or live up to the standards of the British show."
No word yet as to when the US version will air, only to say that the pilot is currently being filmed.
Top Gear Season 11 trailers (click the link and then select from the options)
Trailer 1
Trailer 2
Bloopers and Uncut.

RIP Stan Winston. 1946-2008

This is sad news. Stan Winston has passed away at the age of 62 after a 7 year battle with multiple myeloma, a type of cancer. Winston had a prolific career in the special effects arena and created many icons of modern cinema. He regularly worked with the likes of James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton and was directly responsible for the practical effects in films such as the Terminator, Aliens and Jurassic Park.

Winston won four Oscars in a career that spanned over 40 years. The Visual effects Oscar went to Winston and his team for Aliens, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park and he also won one for makeup for Batman Returns.
It was Stan Winston that gave the Predator the classic facial mandibles and enabled James Cameron to recognise the monster puppet that was used to bring the Alien Queen to life.
Close friend Arnold Schwarzenegger had this to say:

"The entertainment industry has lost a genius, and I lost one of my best friends with the death Sunday night of Stan Winston. Stan's work and four Oscars speak for themselves and will live on forever. What will live forever in my heart is the way that Stan loved everyone and treated each of his friends like they were family."

The film industry has truly lost a great person with a great imagination. Few people have influenced the design of films like Stan and he will be sorely missed.

RIP Stan Winston. 1946-2008

Blow Up Doll Gets Quick Ride To Work - No Pun Intended

Here in New Zealand just like most other countries there are issues with traffic congestion, especially Auckland which is the largest city. Some drivers have been coming up with some novel ways to beat the transit lane rules that have been put in place to reward those who carpool. Those who have three or more people in a car are allowed to drive in the same lanes as buses, taxis and motorbikes therefore making their journey shorter by up to fifteen minutes. Some enterprising commuters have started taking their blow-up dolls to work in an effort to make it look like they carrying the allotted amount of passengers.

Blow up dolls, mannequins and medium sized dogs dressed in children’s clothes have all been employed by drivers trying to get to work quicker. I commend them for thinking of ways to beat the rules but they should really just get more real people in the car. Drivers that get caught are fined NZ$150 and are usually caught by officers standing on the side of the road noting down registration plate numbers. They first noticed something was wrong when cars were stopping at lights had passengers that were not moving.

At least if it is a quiet day at work then there is something to do to break the monotony.

"There were some odd people that tried these antics," said North Shore city council officer Andre Dannhauser

Check out the video from one of our local news broadcasters who reported this after Reuters broke the story.

News Video